


Lextuplets

by WarlockWriter



Series: Conspiracy Verse [4]
Category: 3 Blind Saints, Jericho (US 2006), Life (TV), North Beach (2000), The Agency (TV 2001), The Evil Gene (2015)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Minor Character Death, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-05-19 03:22:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 49,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19348489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarlockWriter/pseuds/WarlockWriter
Summary: Lex and Griff aren't the only "twins" who were created by Nazis. Bill Koehler is going crazy, and they need to stabilize him before he can harm himself or others. But what about Sam? Is he the "twin" who is supposed to be paired with Bill? Or will they need to search further?Beta'd by the awesomeSyrumFills the "Is a Villain" and "Lextuplets" squares for the Non-Gabe Rich Bingo. (I know that last fill is a HUGE shock to everyone.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story begins literally moments after the end of "Aftermath." And, seriously, if you haven't read Global Genetic Conspiracy, go read it first. I do all the world building there, and this won't make too much sense if you haven't read it.

 

Of course, the call came in at a terrible time.

Lex and Griff both raced around the bedroom, trying to find where their clothes had ended up.

“Fuck, Griff! Did you have to rip my shirt off?”

“Sorry,” Griff said from his position under the bed where he was trying to reach his boxers. How had they ended up so far under there?

“It was the last semi-clean one I had. I was planning to drop everything off at the cleaners tomorrow morning.”

Griff managed to snag his underwear. Emerging from under the bed, he rummaged in his drawer and pulled out a new shirt, still sealed in plastic. He tossed it over. “Here. At least we wear the same size.”

Lex ripped into it and unfolded it, swearing as he stuck himself with two pins.

They were finally dressed and rushing to the door, grabbing their helmets on the way to answer the twin calls from Joshua and Jackson that had interrupted their post-coital conversation.

Both had been similar and chilling: “You know that surveillance we’ve had on Bill Koehler? Well, looks like he’s snapped.”

The words echoed in Griff’s mind. They had known there were two other doubles out there. At least two. In addition to Dean, who had told them there were definitely more, but so far they hadn’t been able to track down any of the others.

There weren’t many closed-circuit TV cameras in either Jericho, where Bill lived or Rocky Road where Sam Richards lived, but Joshua had convinced Gage that there needed to be a way to keep an eye on both of them. Reluctantly, he’d authorized the placement of cameras in the Jericho Town Hall and Sam’s parsonage. Stiles and Terri had traveled to both towns to install them, with remote guidance from Lex.

Obviously, they couldn’t be monitored 24/7. There weren’t enough people at the Agency who knew the specifics of why Lex had suddenly developed a “twin.” Most people thought Griff was a brother, and they kept the details of their relationship away from work. The only people who knew all the details were Director Gage, Homeland Security Liaison Quinn, Reese, Jackson Haisley, Joshua, and, of course, Terri and Stiles.

All of them, except Quinn and Gage, took turns monitoring the camera feed, and Lex had programmed a bot to look for certain actions for the times no one could be actively monitoring them.

Griff wondered if a bot had noticed something or if Jackson or Joshua had been watching when something happened. And what had happened? “Snapped” covered a lot of ground.

Griff rode pillion on Lex’s bike, his arms around the hacker. A part of him thought they should buy a car, to be practical. But a bigger part of him loved the feeling of riding the bike, pressed up close to Lex, engine purring between his legs.

“We just did that,” came Lex’s amused voice over the in-helmet radio.

Griff hadn’t been consciously aware of his erection until Lex had said something. “What can I say?” he responded. “I’m horny and riding this bike with you is hot.”

Lex’s low chuckle sounded in his ear. It was a welcome distraction from whatever they were about to see. Neither Griff nor Lex had met their “twin” from Jericho, but they’d watched enough video to get a feel for him, and they both liked him. Bill seemed like a decent man and a good deputy. His partner, a big man named Jimmy Taylor, certainly seemed to like and respect him.

But “snapped” certainly sounded bad.

“I’m thinking Bill must be a vessel,” Lex said. “From the ‘snapped’ thing. No offense, Griff, but that sounds like the instability Karl had talked about.”

Griff didn’t like hearing about how he was flawed, but he agreed that Lex was making sense. Dean had explained in more detail about how vessels and buffers worked. According to him, each vessel had a corresponding buffer, which had surprised Griff and Lex. They had thought that any buffer could stabilize a vessel. Griff had been chilled when Dean had told them that because it meant that if Lex hadn’t found him, he’d have been crazy all his life.

Although Dean had also said Karl had been keeping tabs on him and making sure he and Lex stayed close together. So it was hardly a coincidence they’d ended up together. But it did mean they were all worried about Bill and Sam. None of the documentation they had gotten from Karl had included a list of other “twins.” Nor had Lex been able to find where the conspiracy had kept their most secret records. Dean knew some of databases but not the one that detailed all the currently living twins and who were buffers and vessels. Or who matched up.

“I think you’re right, Lex. Which means if Sam is also a vessel, and he snaps soon, we’re in trouble.”

Dean had said that he, as a buffer, could temporarily stabilize any vessel, but his influence would stop working after a few weeks at the most. Which meant they had two tasks. First to get Dean and Bill together. And then to find Bill’s buffer. The first one was fairly straightforward. The second could turn out to be impossible.

“Yeah. But we’ll figure it out,” Lex said, his tone reassuring. “We figured out how to stop the evil Nazis, right? We’ll figure this out too.”

Griff hoped his young partner was right. He hated the thought of Bill having to go through what he’d experienced until Lex found him.

They pulled up at Langley, and Lex parked the bike. Griff had his own badge now, and they easily passed through security. The overnight security guard made his usual crack about how they could switch badges and no one would ever know. Griff thought they looked different enough that it wasn’t possible. He knew he looked nearly a decade older than Lex, instead of the four years that really separated them.

As soon as they arrived in the Art Department, Joshua looked up from Lex’s computer, where Griff could see one of the Jericho video feeds playing.

“Good. You’re here. Jackson is getting Dean through security. We thought he should be here for this.”

Lex was already sitting down in his seat to examine the video. Griff nodded his agreement at Joshua and stood behind Lex. The feed was the one in Town Hall, but it wasn’t showing anything at the moment. Just an empty ready room.

“You’ll want to back up about three hours,” Joshua told him. Lex nodded and pulled up the saved footage and backed up as indicated. Griff leaned over him, resting his head on top of Lex’s.

“PDA,” Joshua said, his tone amused.

Griff casually flipped him off and didn’t move. There was no one in the room except the three of them. Jackson and Dean might be there soon, but they both knew about Lex and Griff, so it wouldn’t matter.

“I’ll wipe the video footage later if you’re so concerned about it, Joshua,” Lex said, sounding distracted as he scrolled back through the footage.

“Right there,” Joshua said, pointing at the screen. Lex stopped, and they all watched the video.

It started out innocently enough. Bill was behind a counter, apparently working on reports. His partner, Jimmy, walked in and said something to him. Jimmy’s body language was relaxed. Griff wished they had sound but setting up microphones would have made discovery of the recording apparatus more likely. Bill looked up, his expression...frustrated? He said something back to his partner. Jimmy said something back.

Why hadn’t he ever learned to read lips? Bill’s head was at the right angle to read them. As they watched, Bill threw down his pen, swept the papers off the top of the counter and marched around to the other side of the counter. He swung at Jimmy and hit the big man twice, once in the jaw and once in the stomach. Jimmy staggered back and went down.

Several other deputies ran over and tried to restrain Bill, who was still advancing on his downed partner. Griff guessed the adrenaline was surging in Bill because he almost threw off three guys, all of whom were bigger than he was. Jimmy struggled to his feet, arms outstretched in an obviously placating gesture. Bill shook his head and fought against the deputies restraining him.

Two more people in uniform, one a young woman and the other an older man, ran up. Between the five of them, not including Jimmy who was staying clear, they managed to drag Bill off camera, presumably to an office? Or maybe a cell?

“That’s bad,” came a voice from behind Griff. He recognized Dean and turned around.

“Yes. What would make him attack his partner like that?” Griff asked. “They always looked like they had a good relationship.”

Lex was rewinding to watch it again.

Dean was shaking his head. “It’s hard to tell. However, this basically confirms that Bill is a vessel. A buffer isn’t likely to do that.”

“That’s what Lex and I were saying on the drive in,” Griff agreed.

“What do we do?” Jackson asked. Griff noted that, even though it was late and the building had little more than a skeleton crew, Jackson was still holding a leather portfolio with files.

“Let me see the video again,” Dean said. “I only saw the last minute or so.”

They all watched it again. About half a minute in, Joshua ordered, “Stop there, Lex.”

Lex stopped the playback.

“Run it back five seconds,” Joshua requested.

Lex did so.

Griff watched Joshua, who was watching the video intently, his lips moving.

“I think Jimmy said something about ‘you feeling any better than yesterday?’ to Bill. Keep playing?”

Huh. Joshua _could_ read lips, at least a little. Lex’s boss continued to impress Griff.

Lex did so, and Joshua had him rewind a couple of times. Everyone waited quietly, obviously not wanting to distract the older man.

Finally, Joshua shook his head. “I can’t get all of it. What I can get is Bill asking, I think, ‘what are you talking about?’ And then Jimmy says, ‘On the boat, yesterday, man. You were really going off on the people in New Bern.’ Then Bill said something about ‘how they can’t be trusted,’ and that was when he threw down the pen and attacked Jimmy.”

Everyone looked at Dean, who was nodding. “Xenophobia. That’s definitely an unstable vessel thing. We’ve got to go get him. He’s only going to get worse.”

“Can you help him?” Griff asked. “I know you said it would only work for a little while, but can you buy us some time to try to find his buffer?”

“I can stabilize him for a few weeks, at least,” Dean said. “But that doesn’t give us a lot of time.”

“We can always hope that we get lucky and Sam is his buffer,” Lex pointed out.

Griff doubted they’d get that lucky, but they could hope.

“We need to go talk to Sam anyway,” Dean said. “Now that one vessel has gone unstable, we owe it to him to explain what’s going on. We don’t know which he is and we need to find out.”

“Can you, I don’t know, sense which he is if you’re near him?” Jackson asked.

Dean shook his head. “No, I can’t. But Griff can.”

Now it was Griff’s turn to be the center of attention. “I can?”

“Sure. You’re the psychic one. I can’t do what you can, but I think I can describe what you need to be looking for. At the very least, I can teach you to recognize what a buffer feels like. Then if Sam doesn’t feel like one, you’ll know he’s a vessel.”

“That makes sense,” Jackson said.

It did, but Griff didn’t like it. He caught Lex’s eye, and his partner nodded back at him. Griff knew he could learn to use his psychic ability, but he didn’t want to. He hated to think too much about what he’d been bred to do. Learning to use his abilities was too much like admitting he really was a freak.

“Griff? A minute?” Lex asked.

Everyone else turned away while Lex led Griff off to the other side of the room. As soon as they were out of earshot, Griff said, “Look. We agreed. We can do what we do without me learning to use...that.”

Lex put a hand on his arm. “I know. I don’t like it either. But Bill’s in trouble. If it can help? He and Sam are kind of like our brothers too?”

Griff sighed. Lex was making sense, even if he didn’t like it. And he did want to help Bill, especially since it looked like he was in real trouble. “All right. I’ll work with Dean to learn how to recognize buffers at least. Then maybe I’ll see about figuring out some of the rest. You’re right. It could be useful.”

Lex hugged him and gave him a quick kiss. “I know you hate it. You know how much I hate thinking I’d been bred to be a tech expert.”

Dean and Lex’s skill sets were similar, and Dean had confirmed they had both been bred to learn tech easily. Although, he’d noted, not all buffers were bred for that skill set. It was a coincidence that both Dean and Lex had it. Buffers were mostly bred for and trained in useful support skills. Whereas Griff had been bred to be psychic and to be a future vessel. Since his consciousness would have been wiped in a transfer, it wasn’t important what skills he’d be able to learn.

Griff kissed him back. “Yeah. I know.”

They walked back to the others. “All right,” Griff said. “You train me. Can you do that while we make the trip to Kansas?”

Dean nodded. “I can.”

Lex sat down at his computer and started typing. “Looks like the best way to get to Jericho is to fly to Denver and then rent a car to drive the rest of the way.”

“Best way?” Joshua said in a mock-surprised tone. “Are my ears deceiving me? Lex using the words ‘best way’ and ‘fly’ in the same sentence?”

Griff was confused.

It must have shown in his expression because Jackson smiled and explained. “Lex hates flying. It’s a well-known thing around here.”

Wait, what? He’d been living with the hacker for several months now, and he still didn’t know that? It made him wonder what else he didn’t know about his lover and partner. “But flying is safer than driving.”

Joshua and Jackson started laughing. Lex looked up from his computer long enough to give all of them dirty looks. “Statistical safety vs. inherent safety, Griff.”

As if that cleared up anything.

“Don’t even try, son,” Joshua said. “We’ve all had that conversation with him. Just let him monitor air speed, position, weather conditions and the phase of the moon. It’s easier that way.”

“And we’ll read the constant emails from him,” Jackson said. His expression was bland, but Griff saw the humor lurking in the corners of the older man’s eyes.

“The phase of the moon has nothing to do with it,” Lex said with a huff.

Griff noticed he didn’t deny any of the other things Joshua had mentioned, and he winked at Lex’s boss, who smiled and winked back.

“We can also hope that no one decides to hijack this flight,” Jackson said. “We don’t want Griff to think we’re lax in our threat assessment.”

“Considering that I have been working with you on analysis, I think it might reflect as much on my skills as yours, Jackson.” Griff had been enjoying working for the analyst and was learning a lot from the more experienced man.

“We won’t count it against you this time, if you missed something,” Jackson said, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Not helping, you guys!” Lex exclaimed, still bent over his computer.

Griff hugged him from behind.

A few minutes later, Lex had tickets booked for himself, Dean and Griff. And had a car rental reservation. “We’ll hope we don’t need to stay overnight in Jericho. There’s not a decent hotel less than an hour away from there.”

“Do you think we can get Bill from Jericho back to Denver without any special precautions?” Griff asked. He was really hoping tranquilizers and handcuffs wouldn’t be needed.

“It should be fine,” Dean assured them. “Give me a couple of hours with him, and I’m sure I can get him calmed down and ready to travel.”

They all talked for a few more minutes, making sure they hadn’t missed anything. Once they were all satisfied they had covered the likely scenarios, Griff and Lex left to go home to pack. Dean would meet them at the airport in the morning.

Griff decided there was only one way to properly relax Lex before a flight, and he intended to pack as quickly as possible to leave plenty of time.

And who knew? Maybe they’d need to join the Mile High Club? Just to keep his partner properly sedate for the trip.

***

**Two Days Earlier**

Jimmy loved his days off. He loved his job too, but days off were great. Especially when he spent them fishing with his partner, Bill. He’d always considered himself blessed to have a partner who was also his best friend.

They’d gotten up early, partially because that was when the fish were biting but also so Jimmy could get out of the house before his kids woke up. He felt a bit guilty about it, but Bill had persuaded him with a grin and good sense. “Come on, Jimmy. Margaret left you with the kids all last week while she was at that wedding of her cousin’s. She owes you one morning, man.”

He’d thought maybe he should argue with that, but, in the end, he’d let Bill persuade him.

Now they were on the water. The sun was just coming up, tinging the water a stunning orange-pink. They had two six packs of good beer, plenty of worms to bait their hooks and very few cares in the world. Jimmy didn’t even care if they caught anything. He was just glad to be out here.

A couple of hours in, the boat was drifting a little, pulling at the anchor as the breeze moved it. Jimmy was on his second beer and feeling good. They’d caught two fish each, so Margaret wouldn’t be able to nag him about wasting the day.

Bill was just opening his third beer when he asked, “What do you think about those folks from New Bern who are moving into Jericho?”

Jimmy opened his eyes, realizing he’d started to doze off. “What are you talking about, Bill? It’s like two families. You’re making it sound like the whole damn town is invading us.”

This had been an off and on conversation between them for the last week. Bill had gotten the idea in his head, somehow, that people moving in from New Bern were a threat to Jericho. Jimmy didn’t see the problem. He’d met the two families, and they seemed nice. Woody had made friends with one of the boys, who was less than a year older.

“Mayor Green is just letting it happen. It’s not right.” Bill’s voice was rising. If he got much louder, it’d carry straight across the lake.

Jimmy sat up. “The Mayor’s not going to get involved with people moving into town. Not unless they’re trouble.”

Bill was shaking his head, as if he’d barely heard what his partner had said. “I oughta check them out.”

Okay, this was getting serious. “Bill, for starters, that’s a misuse of our database. They’ve given us no reason to run a background check. But because I know it’s bugging you so much, I went ahead and did it anyway.”

Bill sat forward, his amber eyes glinting in reflected sunlight. Jimmy didn’t like the way his eyes glittered. Like he was crazy or something. “What’d you find?”

From his tone, Jimmy knew Bill expected he _had_ found something. “Absolutely nothing. They’re clean. Not even a speeding ticket. On both families, husband and wife.”

Bill shook his head. “Doesn’t that make you suspicious?”

“Uh, no. Makes me think we got two good families who’ll settle in and cause us no trouble.”

“It’s too clean, Jimmy. That’s suspicious. I think they’ve faked their background. Used a hacker or something.”

Jimmy had had enough. “Bill! No. They’re just nice people. Woody likes the one kid. If you don’t let this go, I’m going to turn this boat around and head for shore. I’ve had enough of you going on about this!”

Bill put up his hands. “Okay, partner. Okay. I’ll stop talking about it.”

Bill drank his third beer and was good to his word. He didn’t raise the topic again. But somehow Jimmy knew he hadn’t let it go either.

What was up with his partner?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to post two chapters today. Because that gets the timing right for a nice chapter next Monday for Falcatrecon's birthday. ;)

Now

Griff and Lex were both experienced travelers and were packed quickly. They were only taking the one roller bag since they wore basically the same clothes. Griff had several suits and shirts for work, but for casual wear, he preferred to wear Lex’s. So far, his lover hadn’t protested, and he hoped it would stay that way. Wearing Lex’s clothes just felt better than his own.

Lex, of course, had his tech backpack, and Griff mentally rolled his eyes at what the hacker owned. A desktop computer for home. A laptop for field work--it was also a good gaming machine, Lex said. His computer at work, which had several peripherals that didn’t look standard. Which reminded him. “Lex? Can I get a mouse at work like you have? The one they gave me sucks.”

Without missing a beat, Lex, who was working on his computer, opened up a new browser window and, less than a minute later, had ordered a new mouse from Amazon. “It’ll be there by the time we get back from Jericho.”

“Thanks.”

It wasn’t just computers, either. Lex had the latest and best iPhone, a highly customized Android phone, the biggest iPad Pro, the new iPad Mini--best ebook reader there is, Griff--and a Samsung tablet that was as heavily customized as the Android phone.

Griff had an iPhone similar to Lex’s, but he barely used it. Just for the odd web search, as a mapping tool and sometimes for Sudoku, which his therapist had assured him was good for his occasional bouts with anxiety. According to Dean, Lex kept him mostly stable, but there would always be a few signs of mental instability. Thank you, Dana and her unethical study of him. If he’d been buffered sooner, he might not have needed anything more than Lex’s presence.

Fortunately, Joshua had found a therapist who wasn’t freaked out by the weirdness of her patient’s situation, and one of the CIA doctors was monitoring his prescriptions. Lex had switched to the new therapist also, and he was happy to be able to talk more freely than he had to the first one.

All in all, even with needing the meds, anxiety and a few panic attacks were way better than hallucinations, so Griff accepted the situation, took his pills and kept his phone nearby, just in case.

When he realized Lex was intending to put down roots at his computer, Griff got up from the couch and walked over to him. Firmly, he took Lex’s arm and pulled him up from the computer.

“What?”

“You are not going to start this trip sleep-deprived. I intend to make sure you are relaxed and well rested tonight.”

Lex shot him a vexed look but came along willingly enough.

Griff took his time, making sure to take Lex apart slowly with mouth, fingers and tongue. By the time Griff entered him, Lex had been reduced to little more than incoherent needy whimpers, which suited Griff just fine.

When they finished, Griff pulled Lex close, head pillowed on his chest, where he could easily stroke Lex’s soft hair. They lay there for several minutes, Griff taking Lex’s emotional “temperature.” He hadn’t been entirely honest when he said he didn’t want to learn to use his abilities. He’d been practicing on Lex, which didn’t feel weird to him. With Lex, he didn’t feel like a freak. Reading Lex was just an extension of their connection, but he didn’t want to learn to read anyone else. He’d gotten a taste of it in the meeting they’d had with Karl, and he’d hated touching the emotions of anyone else. However, for Bill and Sam, he’d do it. He supposed.

“So, afraid of flying?”

Lex huffed out a breath from his position on Griff’s chest. “Don’t you start on me, too.”

Griff stroked Lex’s hair and leaned forward to kiss him. “Hey, you broke me out of a mental institution. No judging here, okay? It’s just that I was thinking if I understood why you’re afraid, I might be able to help.”

There was a long pause. “Yeah, okay. That makes sense. So basically, I know too much of what _can_ go wrong, and I can’t stop thinking about all of them at once. I know all the facts about flying being safe, but my brain doesn’t listen to those. It just insists that big huge chunks of metal should not be in the air.”

Griff nodded. “Okay. That totally makes sense. Other that trying not to think about it, what do you do to try to make it easier?”

“Relaxation videos.”

“Do they help?”

Lex shook his head, his hair brushing Griff’s chest. “Not really.”

Griff nodded. “I can see that. You’re still in your head. You need to distract yourself. Kind of like I do with Sudoku when I feel a panic attack coming on.”

“But I can’t do Sudoku. Don’t like those kinds of games.”

Griff thought for a moment. “So bring your 3DS and play that Fire Amulet game.” Lex also had more handheld and console gaming devices than Griff could count.

“Fire Emblem, Griff!”

Griff smiled. He’d known that perfectly well, but he enjoyed teasing the younger man. “Okay, Fire Emblem. But you should try it. I know for a fact that when you’re playing it, you’re focused.” So focused that Lex had almost missed dinner one night. Griff had needed to physically remove the game from his hands to get his attention. Apparently, Lex had been doing something insane like playing through the game with one character. A game that was designed to be played with a team of ten or more. And Griff had taken the game away at _exactly_ the wrong moment.

Lex had been so furious that Griff had needed to sleep on the couch that night, and he’d learned his lesson. Food was not more important than certain games.

“Yeah, that might work. Wonder why I’ve never thought of that.”

“Probably because you read some article that said relaxation tapes were the ‘right’ way to deal with it, and once that got stuck in your brain, you were determined to make it work.”

“Maybe.” Lex settled more comfortably on his chest. “I’ll try that. While you let Dean teach you stuff.”

“Yeah. That’s the plan.”

A moment later, Lex’s breathing had smoothed into sleep, and Griff let himself follow. Tomorrow they’d meet yet another “twin.”

***

Griff knew it was going to be a long flight. He’d made sure they got there early enough to comfortably get through security but not so early that Lex would have too much time to get anxious. So, of course, there was no line, and they were at the gate with almost two hours to wait.

Lex pulled out his laptop and immediately started checking weather, flight status and pretty much everything Joshua had warned him about. Plus emailing Terri at least every ten minutes or so.

They hadn’t been joking.

After watching Lex get more wound up by the minute, Griff finally took matters into his own hands. Lex had been too distracted to pack his game, but Griff had remembered. He took it out of his bag and handed it to Lex, who stared at it in momentary confusion. Griff used that moment to take Lex’s laptop away from him and stow it in his backpack.

“Griff!”

“No, Lex. Game now. Laptop later. Do that thing again where you play on the impossible setting with the most nerfed character in the game.”

He had learned a bit of gaming jargon in the few months he’d lived with the hacker.

Lex huffed at him but turned on the game and started playing. Griff tuned in to his sense of Lex and nodded to himself as he felt his partner’s anxiety levels plummet.

Which was, of course, when Dean showed up. Griff didn’t need to read him. Dean’s body language said it all.

“Not you too!” Griff grumbled.

“What?” Dean asked.

“You’re afraid of flying too?”

Lex glanced up from his game, but Griff motioned him back with a firm wave. One freaked-out twin at a time was enough. Or, to be accurate, triplet.

“You’re reading me?” Dean asked. “I thought you didn’t like to do that.”

Griff motioned to the seat beside him. “I don’t need to read you. I was counter-terrorism and FBI. I can read body language.”

“Oh,” Dean said. “That works nicely with your being psychic.”

Griff rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you say that louder, Dean? I don’t think they heard it in Terminal C.”

Dean flushed but sat down. Griff heard something suspiciously like a chuckle from Lex.

“So, what’s your issue with flying?” Griff asked.

“I’m afraid of heights,” Dean said. Along with the words came an image of Dean sitting at a table, looking at...two cops? An impression of shame and sadness accompanied the image.

Great. He was reading Dean already. The man must be projecting like crazy.

“Okay. So no window seat for you.” Lex had booked them at the level that allowed them in the first Southwest boarding group, which meant they could almost certainly get three seats together.

“I’m fine with the window,” Lex said. “I actually do better there.”

“Okay. Lex window. Dean, you take the aisle, and I’ll be in the middle.” It made sense but Griff wasn’t entirely happy to be stuck between two nervous flyers. Learning to use his abilities was starting to sound almost good. Maybe it would distract Dean enough that he’d be calm?

Dean agreed, and the two of them spent the rest of the time until boarding working on Griff’s psychic senses. It went more smoothly than either of them had thought. Although Griff was occasionally distracted by people walking by who did double takes at seeing three practically identical guys. Who were all clearly different ages, so not triplets. No one stopped to ask, which amused him.

“You’ve been practicing,” Dean noted after about half an hour of work. Griff had quickly picked up the knack of picking an image from Dean’s mind. It was simple stuff so far. Dean would pull up a picture on his phone and stare at it until Griff could “see” it. It took him a few tries to get the hang of it, but once he had it, he was 100% accurate.

Griff didn’t want to admit it, but he finally said, “A little, maybe. I do read Lex sometimes.”

“Try a lot of the time,” Lex said without looking up from his game.

“I do not...Well maybe. But how did you know?” Griff had thought he’d been subtle about it.

“I know you’re good at reading body language and all, but you have to see me to read that. And you have a habit of knowing when I need a hug or encouraging word, even when you’re out of sight.”

Ouch. So much for being subtle.

“It’s fine, Griff,” Lex added. “I don’t mind. Kind of like it even.”

Dean was listening. Griff wouldn’t characterize his expression as a smile, exactly, but it was a lessening of his perpetually sad expression. He wondered what it would take to get him to actually smile.

They continued to practice, and either Griff was getting better quickly or Dean was letting down his guard. Along with what he was supposed to be seeing, he kept getting intriguing images. A dead man in a plane. Somehow he knew it was Dean’s father. A model airplane. And at least one more image of the cops he’d seen first.

Just before they called for boarding, Dean said, “That’s all really good, Griff. You’re doing well. Better than any of my masters did.” His voice grew sad. “Although admittedly, most of them thought they were above learning such things.”

“Foolish of them,” Lex said as he started stowing his game. “It’s a handy ability. I mean, seriously? They couldn’t figure out a use for what’s basically mind reading?”

“Most of them weren’t strong enough to read anyone but buffers,” Dean said. “And they weren’t interested in what we were thinking.”

Griff reached out and pulled Dean into a tight hug. He felt agreement from Lex. “Hey. They’re all gone now. And we certainly value you. You’re going to be invaluable in dealing with Bill. And maybe with Sam.”

Lex nodded as he picked up his roller bag. When Griff let Dean go so he could stand up, Lex hugged him too. “Yeah, man. Exactly. Also, you’re the only one we know who gets what we’re dealing with. It’s nice to have someone else to talk to about this weird genetic stuff.”

Dean gave them both a grateful look. “Thanks.”

They boarded, and Griff reluctantly allowed Lex to have a little bit of laptop time. After he promised to only check weather and flight paths for a few minutes.

“I’m going to hold you to that, Lex.”

“Yes, Dad.”

Griff gave him a swat for that. “I’m not much older than you, Lex, and what I did to you last night? Don’t tell me you let your dad do that.”

Lex snorted and opened up his laptop.

Griff checked on Dean, who had settled into his seat, buckled his lap belt and closed his eyes. “Going to try to sleep through the flight?”

Dean shook his head. “No. I can’t sleep on a plane. But closing my eyes during takeoff and landing seems to lessen my anxiety a bit. Once we’re above the cloud layer, I can forget how high up we are.”

That made sense to Griff, and he left Dean to his coping mechanisms and kept an eye on Lex, who was shaking his head at his computer.

“We’re going to be fine, Lex,” Griff assured him. “I checked the weather reports, and there’s no major storm systems along our route.”

“But there are delays in Atlanta,” Lex insisted.

“Which won’t affect us at all. We’re on a direct flight, remember?”

Lex frowned, opened his mouth but then closed it. Griff considered it a minor victory. His partner stowed his laptop, got out his 3DS again and started playing.

Griff gave him a kiss on the top of his head and left him to it. He settled back into his seat and tried not to enjoy too much the double takes from several passengers and all the flight attendants as they noticed the three of them.

One of the attendants asked, “Are you triplets?”

Dean shook his head without opening his eyes. Lex ignored the question and Griff smiled and said, “No. We’re not related at all.”

He watched the question march across her eyes but just then one nearby passenger started struggling to get a too-large roller bag into the overhead bin, and the attendant hurried off to assist.

“We really should come up with an answer to that question,” Lex said without even looking up from his game.

“Why?” Griff asked. “I rather enjoy keeping them guessing.”

Lex snorted and even Dean huffed out a breath in what was almost a laugh. Griff counted it as a win.

As soon as they were aloft, and the seatbelt sign turned off, Dean opened his eyes and glanced around a bit. Griff noticed his eyes didn’t travel to the windows, though.

“May I ask something?” Griff asked Dean.

Dean turned to look at him, his eyes still avoiding looking at the window. “Sure?”

“We don’t really know much about you. I caught a few glimpses of things while we were working together earlier.”

Dean’s eyes widened, and his shoulders tensed. “What did you see?”

Griff raised a hand in reassurance. “Nothing too personal, I think. Well, I guess they were a little bit. A dead man in an airplane, and somehow I knew it was your father. You across the table from two police detectives and the last one was you flying a model airplane.”

Dean’s shoulders didn’t relax but some of the panic left his eyes. “Oh. I can see why you’d wonder about those.”

Griff was aware of Lex paying attention, even though his gaze remained on his game.

Dean sighed. “All right. I suppose you do have a right to know some of it. My father was an astronaut, and he had an aerospace company. He was killed because his partner and supposed friend wanted the company. As his only son, I was a suspect, which is why you saw me being interviewed by the police.”

“But surely you would have inherited?” Griff asked.

Dean shook his head. “No. Because I’m afraid of heights, I never flew. The two things my father loved the most were flying and mountain climbing. I can’t do either, so I was basically a huge disappointment to him. I didn’t know I was disinherited until it came out in the investigation.”

“But you got it in the end, right?” Lex asked, showing that he’d been paying attention even while playing his game.

Griff read the answer from Dean before he answered.

“No. Dad’s will was clear. He had multiple contingencies in it, and the last one, which was used, had everything going to several charities.”

“Wow, that sucks,” Lex said.

“So how’d you end up with Karl?” Griff asked.

“I was stupid and gullible,” Dean said. “I drifted for a while. Dad left me a tiny bit of money, which let me live for about six months while I figured out what I wanted to do next. Karl found me when I was at the four month mark. I found out later that he’d just transferred to his new vessel, and it had looked for a while like it was stable, but then it wasn’t. So he’d known all along where to find me, and he hadn’t come looking until he needed me. Anyway, he listened to me and was generally friendly. I mean, it was weird that he looked so much like me, but I was so much in need of a friend by then that I didn’t ask too many questions.”

“So what did he hold over you to keep you?” Griff asked. It was one of the things he’d wondered about. Vessels needed buffers, but, as far as he knew, the reverse wasn’t true.

“Oh, it’s a two-way thing,” Dean said. “That’s what makes the whole thing so insidious. Buffers can live just fine without their vessel, until they’ve spent time together. Then both are tied together. Once I’d been with Karl for about a month, I couldn’t be apart from him any more than he could be without me. Only the reasons were different. He needed me to stay sane. If I was apart from him for too long, I just ended up in terrible pain.”

Lex’s head shot up at that, and Griff felt chills run down his entire body. Lex was tied to him? As much as he was tied to Lex? Shit!

“But then how are you okay?” Lex asked. He sounded as shaken as Griff felt.

“For me, the bond broke when Karl died. So I’m fine now.”

Griff’s vision narrowed, and cold chills shook his body. Lex would be free of him if Griff died? His thoughts focused on that and refused to go anywhere else.

Lex shoved up the arm rest and pulled Griff into a tight hold. “No, Griff! No! It’s fine. I’m here for the long haul anyway.”

Griff heard the words, but a part of him couldn’t believe them. He hated the thought of Lex being physically incapable of being separated from him. And the solution was so simple. Freaks of nature weren’t supposed to survive anyway.

“Griff!” Lex hissed, his voice low enough that no one else could hear them. “No. I know what you’re thinking right now. You are not going to consider that again. You’re not. I love you and I’m committed to this.”

“But…”

“But nothing. You are not going to kill yourself to ‘free’ me. Hear me? You’re not. No, we didn’t exactly choose this, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want it.”

Griff still couldn’t stop shaking. He felt cold all over. His vision was still tunneled, and he knew he’d start seeing his brother any minute.

“Shit, Dean,” Lex hissed, still holding tightly to Griff.

Surely Lex’s body was warm. Why couldn’t he feel it?

“You _do not_ drop stuff like that on Griff without warning, you hear me?” Lex sounded as furious as Griff had ever heard him. “He damn near committed suicide the last time I was shot because he decided I was better off without him. Now to tell him that if he’s dead, I’m not bound to him anymore? Fuck, Dean.”

“I’m sorry,” Dean said as he also raised his armrest and leaned against Griff, who was now sandwiched tightly between both of them.

It wasn’t helping. He still felt cold and adrift, lost in thoughts he didn’t want to have but couldn’t stop.

He heard a voice speaking, “Is he all right? Do you need any assistance?”

The flight attendant.

“He’s fine,” Lex said. “He just gets really nervous about flying sometimes, is all.”

With an effort, Griff managed to restrain the sudden giggle that threatened to burst from him. Him nervous about flying? Stuck between two people who really did hate it? But he knew if he started laughing hysterically right now, he’d never stop. And then he’d be back at Alpha Omega. With Dana.

He shivered harder.

“Maybe we could get a blanket?” he heard Lex saying.

A blanket would be nice, but he didn’t think it would help.

“Sure. Let me get you one.”

Lex and Dean both held him. He was vaguely aware that Dean turned his body in an attempt to conceal the three of them from the other passengers.

Something warm wrapped around him, and he knew the attendant had come back with the blanket.

“He looks very pale. Are you sure we don’t need to get him some help?”

“He’ll be fine.” This time Dean was talking. Lex was gently stroking his arm, whispering reassurances in his ear. “We know how to get him through this. It’s not the first time.”

Griff became aware of Dean’s presence. Not his physical self, but his...psychic self? He could almost touch it. It was soothing. Not as much as Lex, but it did help. An idea skittered across his awareness, too rapidly for him to grab. But Dean was helping. At least a little bit.

“I’m sorry. Griff,” Dean said. “I should have told you weeks ago, but I figured it wouldn’t matter. You two seem so solid. And you’ve got exactly the same range. You’re both fine.”

Griff allowed them both to just hold him for a long moment. This freakish existence of his just continued to get worse. Did the God he didn’t really believe in hate him so much?

However, he finally managed to get ahold of himself. Lex whispered reassurances in his ear the entire time, and Dean provided a solid comforting warmth and presence on his other side. He hated all of this, but he did have Lex, and that was a good thing. He got his shaking under control, opened his eyes and kissed his partner.

“Hey, Griff,” Lex said, looking at him with such love in his eyes that Griff couldn’t help but believe him when he said he wanted to stay with him. He didn’t get it, but he was so grateful to Lex for putting up with him.

Lex’s hand smoothed across his forehead. “None of that, Griff. You know I love you, and I’m with you to the end of the line.”

Griff allowed himself a moment to bask in the emotion. Then he turned to Dean, pulling off the blanket as he moved. Now that he was feeling better, the blanket was too hot.

“What Karl and the others did to you was wrong,” he said. “But I’m glad to have you with us. I can sense that you still feel like you’re a disappointment to everyone around you, but you’re not to me.”

“Nor to me,” Lex said, one hand still on Griff’s shoulder, like he was afraid to let him go.

“Even after what I just told you?” Dean asked, his tone defeated and sad.

“Even after that,” Griff said. “Would it have been nice to have known that earlier?”

_Like before Lex left the hospital?_ A traitorous voice spoke in his mind. Griff ignored it. “Yes, that would have been good, but now we know, and we can deal with it. You’re a part of this now. A part of this crazy team.”

“I think you mean freaky,” Lex corrected, humor in his tone.

Griff had to roll his eyes at his partner trying to find humor in what had been done to all of them.

Dean’s eyes brimmed with unshed tears, and Griff pulled him into a hug, hoping the attendant wouldn’t come back just then. Fortunately, the people in the seats across the aisle from them seemed absorbed by the in-flight movie.

“I’m sorry, Dean. You got a really raw deal. And I ought to know.”

Dean turned his face into Griff’s chest for a moment. Griff held him tightly. Lex put his arms around all of them, and they stayed like that while Dean cried silent sobs in Griff’s chest.

Finally, Dean pulled back and Griff let him go.

“Thanks, guys,” Dean said. His expression was lighter. Again, not exactly a smile or even close to it but a slight lessening of his usual sadness.

“So does this change anything we do when we find Bill?” Lex asked.

Griff thought it was an excellent question and gave it serious thought. Lex and Dean both remained silent, and Lex didn’t even pick up his game again. Finally, Griff sighed. “I don’t think we have much choice. Dean, there’s no way for Bill to get better without his buffer, is there?”

Dean shook his head. “No. Once the madness starts, it just gets worse until...well...there’s just no good ending to it.”

Griff didn’t need Dean to spell it out for him. He knew all too well what the slow slide into madness looked like. Only being drugged basically senseless had stopped him from harming himself or anyone else. He couldn’t subject Bill to that.

“But we tell his buffer when we find him,” Lex said. “If it’s Sam or someone else. He needs to know.”

“I agree,” Griff said. “That’s the only thing that’s fair. But if he refuses?” He hated the thought, but it had to be addressed.

“Then we do what we have to,” Lex said.

He didn’t have to say what that was. They all knew. Bill would need to be institutionalized at best. At worst? Griff didn’t want to think about that.

“So we’ll make sure everyone has as much information as we can give them,’ He said. “But first we have to get to Bill and stabilize him. Which leads to the question. Best way to get to Bill?”

“We could show up at Town Hall and ask to speak to him?” Dean asked.

“I think that might lead to a lot of awkward questions,” Griff said. “We’ll probably need to talk to them eventually, but perhaps we could find out where his partner is on patrol and talk to him by himself. Sort of explain what’s going on?”

“Uh, guys?” Lex said, with exaggerated patience in his voice. Griff turned to see he was holding up his phone. “Got Jimmy’s address right here. And his work schedule. He’s off at 4 pm today. Why don’t we just show up at his house and talk to him?”

Lex did have a way of making complicated things simple. Of course, he could also do the opposite. But in this case, he had cut straight to the heart of what needed to be done. “Still might be best if all three of us don’t show up,’ Griff said. “Three people who look like Bill might be a bit much.”

“You go,” Lex said without hesitation.

“Why me?”

“You’re law enforcement, and you carry yourself like it,” Lex said. “Jimmy will pick up on that and probably respond better to you than to anyone else.”

Griff agreed that made sense. “That’s the plan, then? I go talk to Jimmy and then bring you two in?”

“Sounds like it,” Dean said.

“Good,” Griff said, leaning back in his seat. “Then if you don’t need me for anything else, I’m going to take a nap. I have a feeling we’re going to be busy for the next few days.”

He heard Dean say to Lex, “He can sleep on flights?”

“Apparently” was all Lex said as he picked up his game and started playing. Griff found the soft music soothing, and he soon drifted off. Hopefully without nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Falcatrecon, Lex playing Fire Emblem was for you. <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where you will all probably vote to take the boys away from me. XD

Griff drove the rental car from Denver to Jericho, and Lex spent much of the drive on his laptop, running through footage from Town Hall.

“Okay, it looks like they left him in a cell overnight to cool down,” he finally said.

“Poor Bill,” Dean said from the back seat. “That’s not fun.”

“Makes sense, though,” Griff said. “They wouldn’t know what’s going on, so as long as he was reasonably calm in the morning, they’d let him out. Probably gave him a short suspension without pay, just to get the message across.”

“Sucks but makes sense,” Lex said. “It’s not his fault, but they can’t know that.”

“Exactly,” Griff said.

The trip to Jericho was an easy, basically straight shot from Denver, and they made good time, arriving just after Jimmy was supposed to have gotten off work. Griff drove to his house in a pleasant but hardly fancy neighborhood which looked like it could easily be afforded on a deputy’s salary.

Griff parked about a block away, wanting some distance from Jimmy’s house and a car with two identical men sitting in it.

“Go for it,” Lex said. “Dean and I will wait here. Text us when you want us to show up.”

“Will do,” Griff said, getting out of the car. There were few people visible, which was good. In such a small town, probably most of the residents would recognize Bill on sight, and he didn’t want to cause a stir. Or confusion. There would probably be enough of that later.

He walked up to Jimmy’s house and knocked, wondering what his reception would be. He had his CIA ID ready if he needed it, but he wasn’t sure if, in such a small town, it would be more a help or a hindrance. Not for the first time, he wished for his old FBI badge.

Jimmy Taylor opened the door and immediately frowned. “Bill?” Then he tilted his head and added, “Wait. You’re not Bill. But you look an awful lot like him. Who are you? And don’t tell me you’re his brother. I know he doesn’t have one.” Jimmy’s brows were pulled down in suspicion and budding anger.

Griff put up a hand. “Deputy Taylor, I know this looks weird, but I’m here to try to help Bill. My name is Griff Krenshaw.” He used the “reassure the civilians voice” he’d perfected in his time with the FBI.

From the way Jimmy’s eyes narrowed, Griff knew he’d recognized it. “Who are you with?”

“I used to be FBI, but now I’m with the CIA.”

“What does the CIA want with Bill?” Jimmy pointedly looked at Griff’s casual jacket, which was concealing his under-the-shoulder holster. “And can you prove who you are and that you are carrying that legally?”

“I can,” Griff said. “I’m reaching into my back pocket for my wallet.” He moved slowly and deliberately to pull out his wallet. He took out and handed over both his CIA ID and his concealed carry permit. Jimmy examined both of them closely before handing them back.

“All right. Those look okay.”

Griff knew the quality of Lex and Terri’s forgeries and doubted a small town deputy would know the difference. “May I come in? Considering who I look like, I’d rather your neighbors didn’t start asking too many questions.”

Jimmy considered for a moment and then motioned him inside. Griff noticed two curious children, a boy of about eight and a girl who was maybe five? He wasn’t sure. Judging the ages of children wasn’t one of his skills, and he supposed he could have been off by a couple of years in either direction.

“Sally, Woody, outside, please. This is adult talk,” Jimmy told the two children.

“Dad!” the boy said, making it into at least three syllables, as children do.

“No back talk, son,” Jimmy said in what Griff supposed was his “deputy voice.” Griff had a similar tone he could use when the need came up.

The two children left the living room, and Jimmy motioned him to the couch. “Have a seat.”

Griff sat, noticing the man didn’t offer him anything to drink. Not surprising.

“So what do you want with Bill?” Jimmy asked. “And why do you look so much like him?”

“The answers to those are linked and may take me a minute, if you’ll indulge me.”

Jimmy gave him a _get on with it_ wave, and Griff launched into an abbreviated version of the events of several months earlier. He knew how crazy it sounded to be talking about ex-Nazis and their insane plan to extend their lives by transferring their consciousness into others, but it was the truth, no matter how insane it sounded.

He could tell, however, that Jimmy wasn’t buying any of it, although the deputy was polite enough to listen to the entire story before exclaiming, “You know how insane that sounds?”

Griff nodded. “I do. And I lived through it.”

“So you’re telling me that there are two others like you waiting nearby and that Bill is one of these...vessel things?”

“I am. I can contact the other two, and you can meet them yourself. As for Bill, he’s been acting oddly hasn’t he?”

Jimmy started to answer but stopped. “How could you know that?”

This was the part Griff hadn’t been looking forward to, however necessary it had been. “Because we installed cameras in your Town Hall to keep an eye on Bill.”

Jimmy came out of his seat and loomed over Griff. “You did what?”

Griff maintained his calm. He’d faced down mob bosses and drug dealers. He wasn’t worried about a deputy. Too much. Jimmy _was_ a big man. “We installed cameras. We knew there was a chance Bill would start to exhibit erratic behavior, and we needed to keep an eye on him. We hoped he wouldn’t, but we saw him attack you last night.”

Jimmy loomed a moment longer before going back to his chair. His expression was concerned. “You saw that?”

“Yes. We don’t have audio, but one of us can read lips, and he got some of what you two said to each other.”

“Huh,” Jimmy said.

Griff decided to chance it. “Want to tell me about it?”

Jimmy considered for a moment before saying, “Get those other two in here. I want to meet them. Then I’ll decide if I want to tell you the whole story.”

Griff thought that made sense, and he sent a text to Lex. “They’ll be here in a minute.”

Jimmy nodded and went to the door, letting both Lex and Dean inside when they arrived. The big man looked them both up and down. “Different ages and subtly different but basically y’all do look alike.”

“Basically, we do, yes,” Lex said, extending his hand. “I’m Lex.”

Jimmy hesitated but finally took his hand. “Jimmy Taylor. Got a last name?”

“Not one that I’m willing to share.”

Griff was reminded that there was yet another thing he didn’t know about his young partner. Why had he not asked about it before? He guessed that he’d been “Lex” from the beginning and he’d never really thought about it.

Dean introduced himself, and they all sat back down, Dean in another chair and Lex beside Griff on the couch. Griff noted the way Jimmy looked at them and suspected the deputy had picked up from body language that they were together. He didn’t care. He wasn’t ashamed of it and had no intention of hiding it. If the man were homophobic, he could stuff it.

“So there really are three...err...four of you,” Jimmy said.

“Five, actually,” Dean said. “Sam is in Missouri, and he’s next to talk to. After Bill, who is the one in greatest need right now.”

“We’re all here,” Griff said. “You were going to talk about something that happened with Bill?”

Jimmy sighed. “I still think this whole story is crazy, but it’s hard to argue when I’m sitting in front of three of you. Okay, Bill’s been getting paranoid lately. He’s been obsessed with a couple of families who moved here from New Bern. That’s a neighboring town.”

“Is there anything particularly worrying about New Bern residents?” Lex asked.

Jimmy shook his head. “No. That’s why his obsession makes so little sense. They’re just people from another town a lot like Jericho. Bigger but hardly huge. I’ve tried to talk him out of it. Even did a background check on the two families, which would get me a reprimand if the Sheriff found out, but I had to do something. Bill’s just gone way out of line on this one.”

“Paranoia and xenophobia are likely manifestations of vessel instability,” Dean said.

“But that’s just crazy!” Jimmy exclaimed. “I mean, you can’t be serious? Nazis? Soul transference? That’s just crazy talk.”

Griff couldn’t believe he was actually considering his next action, but they needed to convince Bill’s partner if they were going to get to Bill. If he were as paranoid as Jimmy was describing, he’d never let the three of them near him without some assurances from his partner. Maybe not even then, but without Jimmy, they had fewer options.

“Lex, Dean. Drive about a mile away for...say ten minutes.”

Lex and Dean both exclaimed, “No!” at the same moment.

Jimmy just asked, “Why?”

Griff looked to Dean. “How much pain will Lex be in for ten minutes?” He hated this idea, but he couldn’t think of a quicker, more expedient way to convince Jimmy.

Remembered pain crossed Dean’s face, and Griff knew he’d be speaking from experience. “Are you two still new enough that a mile is out of range?”

“Definitely,” Griff said. Lex was shaking his head, but Griff put a hand on his leg.

“It’ll hurt. Not as much as it will a year from now. He’ll be okay, though. Karl made me endure an entire day to prove the point.”

Griff wished, and not for the first time, that Karl were still alive to kill again. “Lex, it’s the quickest way to prove that we aren’t making this all up. I’m sorry you’re going to have to go through it.”

Lex’s face was determined. “It’s not me I’m worried about. I can handle pain. It’s you I’m worried about.”

“What are you all talking about?” Jimmy asked.

“Lex keeps me stable,” Griff said. “If he and Dean drive a short distance away, you’ll see what happens when a vessel is separated from his buffer.”

“But Lex will be in pain?” Jimmy sounded confused.

“Apparently no one escapes unscathed from this,” Griff said. “But you need to see what is in store for Bill if we don’t help him. His psychosis isn’t the same as mine, but I think you’ll get the idea.”

“All right?” Jimmy said uncertainly.

“Griff!” Lex pleaded.

“You know I’m right. We need Jimmy to understand, and this will do it.”

Dean was standing up and taking Lex’s arm to guide him from the room. Lex broke free and gave Griff a bruising kiss first. Then he turned to Jimmy. “Don’t let him do anything crazy, okay?”

Jimmy nodded. It was obvious he had no idea what was going on, but he appeared to be accepting the seriousness of what was happening.

Dean took Lex’s arm again. “I’ll drive out for a mile, wait ten minutes and come straight back.”

Griff nodded.

“Let me give you my number, Deputy Taylor,” Lex said, his tone urgent. “You can text me and we can come back early if you think it’s warranted.”

Jimmy got out his phone, and Lex gave him his number.

Then Lex and Dean left, and Griff settled himself on the couch, steeling himself for what was to come.

“What should I expect?” Jimmy asked.

“I’m going to start hallucinating. Talking about seeing my brother and how he’s going to shoot me. I might also mention a priest and my sister.”

“What the fuck?”

Griff shrugged. “This is something similar to what Bill will experience. He’s only going to get worse from this point on. You need to have an idea.”

Griff was starting to feel the stretch on his connection to Lex. It wasn’t bad yet, but he could feel that it was going to get bad.

Jimmy sat down. “How long do we wait?”

Griff gritted his teeth against the hollow pain forming in his chest. “Not long now. They’ve gone past my safe range. It’s only going to get worse from now on.”

“Are you sure about this? I could call them back.”

Griff watched his vision narrow, bands of black tunneling on either side of what he could see. The hollow pain in his chest increased, his connection to Lex stretching like a rubber band about to snap. Moments later, Eric appeared, holding his gun.

_Brother. You thought you were rid of me, didn’t you? I’m always here. Waiting for you to join me in Hell._

Griff shook his head. “You’re not real. You’re dead.”

“What are you seeing?” Jimmy’s voice was calm and reassuring.

“Eric. My brother. He’s holding a gun to my head.” He was still able to recognize reality from his hallucination, but it wouldn’t last. “In another couple of minutes. I’m going to lose the ability to know he’s a hallucination. Don’t let me do anything crazy.”

_If you do something crazy, you’ll free Lex from being tied to a freak._

Griff shivered. The voice was Karl’s. He’d never experienced him in an hallucination before. That couldn’t be good.

His vision narrowed until all he could see was his brother. The pain increased to the point where he wasn’t sure he could stand it. This was much worse than what he’d experienced in the hospital.

He hoped Jimmy would stop him before he did something permanent.

***

Dean had to practically drag Lex to the car, and the hacker fought him almost the entire way. He knew what Griff had proposed made sense, but he hated the thought of leaving him alone like that.

Dean pushed him into the car and drove off. “He’s right, you know. Jimmy needs to see what Bill is facing.”

Lex sighed, still turned in his seat to watch Jimmy’s house fading in the distance. “I know. But we haven’t been separated since I was last in the hospital, and I know what he almost did then.” Joshua had told him about taking the gun away from Griff. _Fortunately, I think he had only remembered it a few minutes before I showed up._ Joshua’s words occasionally echoed in his head.

“He’s got Jimmy, who is trained to deal with people who are a danger to themselves. Right now I’m more worried about you. What’s your effective safe range now?”

Lex had to think for a moment. “Last we tested it, six or seven hundred feet. But that was a several weeks ago. It might be more by now.”

“Probably is. We passed that distance a bit ago. How do you feel?”

Lex had been so worried about Griff that he hadn’t even noticed what his body was telling him. However, as soon as Dean mentioned it, he became aware of a _stretching_ deep inside him. As if every cell in his body wanted to get back to Griff _RIGHT NOW!_ It didn’t hurt yet, but he thought it would soon. “Not too bad yet. More like a stretch than pain.”

“That will change soon.”

Dean was right. Almost as soon as he’d spoken, Lex felt the stretch inside get stronger, and now it was starting to hurt. Just a 1 or 2 on the pain scale to start, but it ramped up quickly. By the time Dean pulled into a strip mall parking lot and stopped, the pain had raced through the middle part of the scale and was hovering somewhere between a 7 and an 8.

“How bad is it now?” Dean asked as he put the car in Park.

“7 or 8 out of 10,” Lex got out through gritted teeth. He wrapped his hands around his mid-section, as if somehow that would help.

Dean consulted his phone. “Nine minutes left.”

The pain never got worse, but it also never varied. Lex didn’t have even a second’s break in the intensity.

“Seven minutes left.”

Lex held on to Dean’s slow status reports like the lifeline they were. Between the pain and his still frantic worry for Griff, the minutes passed like hours.

Finally, however, he heard the engine turn over and knew the ten minutes must be up.

“Heading back now. It should get better soon.”

Again, Dean knew what he was talking about. As they drove back to Jimmy’s house, the pain backed down the scale until it returned to just the stretching feeling. Now he just had the overwhelming urge to be in contact with Griff again.

“You’ll need to be in contact for a while. It’ll be an urge you won’t really be able to control,” Dean said as he stopped at a light just a block away from Jimmy’s house.

Lex tapped his fingers against his leg, trying to will the light to change. Then he caught the odd note in Dean’s voice, and his head whipped around. “Wait? You’re saying Karl put you through that and then wouldn’t let you touch him?” The urge to touch Griff was making his hands cramp with the intensity of his need.

“Yes,” came Dean’s simple response.

Lex couldn’t imagine what that must have been like.

Dean pulled to the curb, and Lex was out of the car almost before it came to a complete stop. He ran to the door and didn’t even bother to knock, just bursting in. Jimmy looked up from where he knelt on Griff’s back. “Thank God you’re here. I wasn’t sure I could contain him much longer.”

Lex slid to a stop beside Griff and grabbed his hand. Jimmy waited a moment but then stood up, which allowed Lex to pull Griff into his lap. Contact felt so damned good. It was like a circuit closed within him and all was well with the world again.

“Lex?” came Griff’s whispered question.

“I’m here, Griff. You okay?”

“I am now.” Griff raised his eyes, and Lex felt his heart clench at the hollow pain in them. He helped Griff get to his feet and over to the couch, where the older man curled up, wrapping his arms around himself as he lay his head in Lex’s lap. Lex kept one hand on Griff’s shoulder while he smoothed the other through his hair.

He was dimly aware of Dean entering and speaking quietly to Jimmy.

“Is that what Bill’s going to experience?” the deputy was asking.

“Not exactly. It’s obvious his psychosis is different from Griff’s but, yes, basically.”

“And you can help him?

“I can temporarily stabilize him. He’ll be back to normal as long as he’s near me.”

“But it won’t last forever?”

Griff started shaking, and Lex shifted him to hold him close, trying to warm and ground him. “Lex? Was it very bad for you?” Griff asked, softly enough that Lex could hear him and still listen to Dean and Jimmy.

“It wasn’t that bad,” he said back, keeping his voice low. “Not in a hurry to experience it again, though.”

“No,” Dean was saying. “We need to find Bill’s buffer and put them together.”

“Um. Don’t take this the wrong way, but…” Jimmy’s voice was hesitant. “It’s pretty obvious those two are together in a romantic way. Bill’s as straight as anyone I’ve ever known.”

Dean spoke hastily. “Griff and Lex are unusual. I’ve seen a few other vessel/buffer pairs before transference. None of them were romantically involved. It’s not required.”

Lex heard Jimmy huff out a sigh of relief. “Okay. That’s good. Because I’m pretty sure Bill wouldn’t be okay with that. Not homophobic...”

“Just not interested,” Dean said, his tone understanding. “I’m straight too, and I’d have the same problem.”

Lex was grateful that there apparently hadn’t been a sexual component to Dean and Karl’s relationship.

Griff’s shaking eased, and he struggled a bit to get up. Lex let him up but didn’t let go of him. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t want to let go for a while.

“We need to get to Bill,” Griff said. “You’re convinced, Deputy Taylor?”

“Jimmy’s fine. And yes. I can’t say I understand it, but I’m convinced.” He was shaking his head. “Either that or you’re the best damn actor I’ve ever seen, but I don’t think that’s it at all.”

Griff nodded, still slumped and looking tired. “Good. Then let’s get to him.”

“You sure, Griff?” Lex asked. “Want a bit to pull yourself together?”

“No. If Bill’s already violent, we need to get to him. I slid downhill really fast once I first snapped.”

Apparently “snapped” was the term they had all decided to use for the first extreme sign of a vessel starting to decompensate.

“He should be at his apartment right now,” Jimmy said.

“Is he married?” Dean asked. “Or have a girlfriend?”

“No. He’s single and not in a relationship at the moment.”

“That’s good. It should make things easier,” Dean said, nodding in satisfaction.

“One less person he might have hurt,” Griff said, his tone grim.

“How do we want to handle this?” Lex asked, with a glance over his shoulder at Griff. “You don’t look up for taking point on this one.”

Griff shook his head. “No, I’m not.” He pulled Lex a little closer, a clear indication that he didn’t want to let go either.

“Want me to bring him here?” Jimmy asked. “I could call him and tell him to come over.”

Lex realized Jimmy still didn’t comprehend the seriousness of the situation. He’d noted the toys strewn across the room and suspected his children were nearby, perhaps even at home.

Griff got there first. “No. Not with your children here.”

“Bill’d never hurt them,” Jimmy protested.

“You’re probably right,” Dean said. “But do we want to take that chance?”

Jimmy looked at each of them in turn, and something in their expressions must have gotten through to him. “No. I guess not.”

“How about if you and Jimmy go to his place?” Lex suggested to Dean. “Griff and I can be nearby. Introduce the idea to him, and then we can come in.”

Jimmy and Dean seemed agreeable, and they all left. Jimmy drove his truck, and the rest followed in the rental car. Dean said nothing when Lex and Griff both got into the back seat. Griff curled up on the seat, laying his head in Lex’s lap and closing his eyes. Lex got it. As painful as the separation had been for him, it had been much worse for his partner.

***

Bill was sitting on his couch. He’d finished one six-pack that day and was making inroads into another. Damn those people from New Bern! If they hadn’t moved here, he’d never have attacked Jimmy. Never been suspended. He felt bad for attacking Jimmy, but suspension? That wasn’t fair. He’d been an exemplary deputy until now. One mistake and he was suspended?

The more he drank, the more he knew Jericho was heading for trouble. Good thing it was an election year. Sheriff Dawes needed to go. So did Johnston Green. They needed to be replaced by people who understood the real needs of the town. Protect their own. Shut out the rest of the world. They didn’t need them.

Why couldn’t Jimmy see that? Was Jimmy in league with the people from the outside? It was hard to think after nine beers, but hadn’t Jimmy’s family pretty much always been here? Longer maybe than Bill’s? But was he sure of that? Jimmy had _talked_ about how long his family had been in Jericho. But could Bill believe him? Maybe he should check? After all, Jimmy had been supporting those new folks. Maybe his family was almost as new.

He opened another beer and fumbled for the TV remote. Baseball was boring him. Maybe a hunting show?

A knock sounded at the door, and Bill jumped. Who would be coming by now? He stood up, steadying himself on the edge of the couch. Maybe he shouldn’t have had that last beer? Even inebriated, he checked for his service weapon, which was in its holster on the side table, where he could get to it quickly. He probably wouldn’t need it, but it was good to know it was there, if he needed it.

Peering through the peephole, he had a hard time focusing. There were two men there, Jimmy and...himself? Wait? Had he finished off an extra six-pack he hadn’t remembered?

“Bill? It’s Jimmy, man. You there?”

Bill wasn’t sure what to think. It was Jimmy, sure. But who was the other guy?

“Who’s that with you, Jimmy?” he asked through the door.

“That’s what I need to talk to you about, Bill. Open up?”

Bill couldn’t decide. Damn all the beer he’d drunk. He needed his wits about him, and they weren’t there right now. This was Jimmy. His partner. The person who he trusted before anyone else. Or had. Could he still trust him? Especially considering the stranger he had with him. The stranger who didn’t look like a stranger.

Finally, the strength and length of the relationship he had with Jimmy decided him. He opened the door. “Jimmy?”

“Buddy, this is Dean. Okay if we come in?”

Now that Bill was seeing “Dean” in person instead of through the peephole, he realized how much he did look like himself. How? Why?

“Uh, yeah.” He moved aside and let the two men inside his apartment. Suddenly he was embarrassed for Jimmy to see all the beer cans strewn over the floor. He motioned them to the couch but made the motion too large and almost fell. Dean reached out, and, before he could dodge or otherwise prevent the contact, the other man took his arm to steady him.

Suddenly, Bill’s thoughts cleared, even considering the alcohol haze. He remembered attacking Jimmy, his paranoia about the new residents from New Bern and...had he really sat here all day drinking beer after beer? This wasn’t like him.

“That’s right, Bill,” Dean was saying. “You’re feeling clearer now, aren’t you?”

Bill let Dean guide him to the couch. They sat down, Dean still holding his arm. He supposed it was weird, but he didn’t really want Dean to let go just yet.

“Bill?” Jimmy was asking as he sat down in one of the two living room chairs.

“Jimmy?” Bill asked, feeling his way carefully through memory. “Did I really hit you?”

“Yeah, buddy. You did. But it’s okay. I forgive you. You weren’t really yourself. Dean explained things.”

Bill shook his head. “What’s going on?” Suddenly, his stomach did a slow roll, and he hastily got up and ran for the bathroom, where he threw up basically everything in his stomach. Almost all of it was liquid. He flushed the toilet and sat on the floor for a minute, eyes closed, head cradled in his arms. He felt a gentle hand rub his back, and he jerked upright to see Dean behind him, the other man’s soft amber eyes meeting his.

“What?” He thought he should be embarrassed or offended, but he still kind of wanted the man’s hand on his back. Why?

“It’s okay. Or it will be,” Dean said.

Oddly, Bill believed him. “What’s going on? What’s happening to me?”

“Come back to the living room, and I’ll explain.” Dean’s voice was soft and reassuring. Bill believed him and couldn’t quite believe that he did.

Dean offered a hand to help him to his feet. He took it and let his “twin” lead him back to the living room. Jimmy stood up and handed him a big glass of water. “Here.”

Bill took it and drank half of it down.

“Want some coffee?” Jimmy asked.

Dean’s hand was still on his back, and it felt comfortable and right. “Uh. Yeah. I think I should.”

“Sit down, Bill, and I’ll try to explain,” Dean said.

“Okay?”

He sat down, and Dean proceeded to tell him the most ridiculous story about “twins” and Nazis. And yet, Bill trusted him. Which confused him. There was no way it could be true. Could it?

Jimmy came back with a steaming mug. Bill took a sip. His partner had fixed it just the way he liked it. “Jimmy? Have you heard this story?”

“I have,” his partner said, his voice as low and reassuring as Dean’s had been. “And I believe it. I’ve met Lex and Griff, and...well...I’ve seen what Griff was like when he was separated from Lex. I didn’t believe at first, but I did then.”

Bill shook his head and tried to sort through everything he’d heard. Finally, he sighed. “I guess I’d better meet these other two.”

Dean took out his cell phone and sent a text. He had to remove his hand from Bill’s back to do it, and Bill missed it. And it bothered him how much he missed it.

“Don’t worry, Bill. The need for contact won’t last long,” Dean said as soon as he’d sent the text. “It’s only because you haven’t been buffered before. As soon as you’re stable, just being near me will be enough.”

Dean had explained the whole vessel and buffer thing, but Bill wasn’t sure he really understood it yet. He was still trying to get his head around there being three other people who looked just like him.

Bill sipped his coffee and tried to sober up with willpower alone. It wasn’t exactly working, but he was more sober than he should have been, considering the amount he’d drunk.

A knock came at the door, and Jimmy looked a question at him. Bill nodded. It was probably better that Jimmy get the door. He didn’t want to fall flat on his face. Because that was the reason. Nothing to do with wanting to stay in contact with Dean.

Jimmy opened the door and ushered in to more men, who, yes, looked a lot like him, although, oddly, not quite as much as Dean had. The younger of the two had sideburns Bill would never have considered, and the older looked tired, with sunken eyes.

“Bill, this one is Lex.” Jimmy said, pointing to the younger man.

“And I’m Griff,” the older one said, his voice sounding as tired as his eyes looked.

Lex had an arm around Griff and didn’t look as if he was letting go anytime soon. Which made seating arrangements awkward for a moment. Neither of Bill’s chairs sat two in any comfort, and his couch was snug with three, much less four.

Dean solved the problem by sliding to the floor and sitting at Bill’s feet, still maintaining contact.

Lex shook his head. “Dean. We’ll figure something out. You don’t need to sit on the floor.”

“It’s fine,” Dean said. “I’m well used to it.”

Bill wondered at that, but he watched as Lex seated Griff on the couch next to Bill and then dropped to the floor himself, also maintaining contact with Griff. Once the two men were within arm’s reach, Bill noticed something. Lex’s proximity was almost as grounding as Dean’s, and he felt an affinity with Griff.

“Yes, you and I are alike,” Griff said.

Bill’s eyes widened. “How did you know I was thinking that?”

“Because I’m psychic, as are you. You’re projecting, and I can pick up on it.”

Shit!

Griff gave a tired chuckle. “I’ll try not to read you if you’ll try not to project.”

“I don’t know how to do that,” Bill admitted.

“I can walk you through the theory,” Dean said. “Karl explained it to me.”

“Karl?” Bill asked.

“One of the Nazi bastards we took down,” Lex said, practically spitting out the words. Griff’s hand moved to stroke his hair.

“He was my master,” Dean said, his tone totally matter of fact. “But that’s not important right now. Griff, Lex, I gave Bill the high level explanation, and my presence is starting to stabilize him. Now we need to consider how to approach Sam.”

“Sam?” Bill asked.

“The next ‘twin’ we’re going to talk to,” Lex said. “We don’t know yet if he’s a buffer or a vessel. If we’re really lucky, he’s a buffer and he’s yours.”

“And if we’re not?”

“We need to find yours as soon as possible,” Griff said. “Before Dean’s influence fades and you go back to how you were.”

Bill couldn’t help the little shudder that went through him. Now that his thoughts were clearing, he could remember what he’d been like, and he didn’t want to go back to that.

“Do we all go together?” Lex asked.

“I think not,” Dean said. “I think it’s better that I stay here with Bill and you two go talk to Sam. You can explain things to him, and I don’t see any need for all four of us to go.”

“You need to stay near me, though, right?” Bill asked. “That won’t work when I’m working.”

“You’re still suspended for a few more days, Bill,” Jimmy said, his voice apologetic. “Let’s worry about that when you do go back to work.”

Bill didn’t like the reminder, but it was true. And he’d done it to himself.

“You weren’t yourself, man,” Griff said. “Trust me. I know.”

Oddly, that did make Bill feel better. A bit.

“So, I’m thinking we just head out then,” Lex said. “I’ll drive, Griff since you’ve had it rough.”

They all agreed that time was of the essence and that, assuming Lex was up to driving, leaving immediately was a good idea.

Bill did wonder, however, what was up with the meaningful glances between Lex and Griff.

Dean leaned up to whisper, “Lex thinks there are no decent hotels nearby, so he’s okay with not staying.”

“I heard that,” Lex said.

Bill shook his head. What was wrong with Motel 6? It was a perfectly decent place.

Lex and Griff left soon after bringing Dean’s suitcase in. Jimmy left to get back to his family, which left Bill and Dean alone in the apartment.

“I’ll take the couch,” Dean said. “By the time we’ll want to go to bed, the living room will be close enough.”

Bill was relieved by that. He really didn’t want to have to sleep with Dean if he didn’t have to.

Bill ordered pizza to be delivered, and the two of them ate while Dean explained more about vessels and how they worked. The more Bill learned, the less he liked it. It was sounding like his choices were to be tied to some stranger for the rest of his life or go crazy. Neither sounded good to him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to post on Monday, but I can't sit on Griff's cuteness any longer. That boy surprised me in the best possible way.

Lex drove this time while Griff collapsed in the passenger seat, closing his eyes and slumping, head lolling to one side. He didn’t even fasten his seatbelt, so Lex leaned over and did it for him.

“Thanks,” Griff said.

“Anytime.”

Lex wished for a bench seat instead of buckets because he really wanted to reach over and pull Griff close. But the seats made that impossible, so instead he got his navigation set up, turned on the engine and reached for Griff’s hand. The circuit joining them completed as soon as they touched, and Lex couldn’t help a small sigh of relief, echoed by Griff.

He drove for several miles before glancing over at his partner. Griff wasn’t asleep. The muscles in his face were too tense. “How bad was it, really?” he asked.

Griff didn’t answer for a moment, and Lex half expected him to lie, but finally Griff said, “Awful. I started hallucinating Eric almost immediately. And I heard Karl’s voice.”

Lex couldn’t help a shudder. He couldn’t imagine what that must have been like. Especially Karl.

“How was it for you? Really?” Griff asked.

“Hurt. A lot,” he admitted. “But I doubt it was anything near as bad as it was for you.”

“Still sucks.”

“Yeah.” Lex considered. “But you know it’s worth it, right? I mean, I still hate what they did, but I still have you, and I’m glad that happened.”

Griff still didn’t open his eyes, and Lex wasn’t sure if he’d gotten through to his partner. He wondered what, if anything, he could say. He understood that Griff had been through a lot. Being locked up would damage anyone’s self-confidence. Not to mention the learning he was a genetic freak of nature. But Lex loved him, and he knew nothing would change that.

“Thanks, Lex,” Griff finally said. “I do know that. It’s just hard sometimes to remember it. Especially after Dean told us that you suffer by us being apart too. I don’t know. Somehow it was easier to deal with when I thought it was just me.”

Lex squeezed Griff’s hand tighter. “Yeah. I get that. Although for me it makes it a bit easier now.”

Now Griff did open his eyes and sit up in his seat to face Lex. “How?”

Lex shrugged and tapped the fingers of his left hand on the steering wheel. “It feels fairer somehow. Like we’re both tied together. I like you having to remember that I have skin in this game too.”

Griff shook his head, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he didn’t let go of Lex’s hand. He put his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes again. After a few minutes, his grip relaxed, and his head lolled to one side. Lex glanced over and saw that his partner’s face was finally relaxing. Good, maybe he’d get some sleep.

He continued to hold Griff’s hand, checked his mirrors and settled in for the rest of the drive.

However, a moment later, he heard Griff’s voice, soft as if he were right on the edge of sleep. “Want to marry you, Lex.”

Lex’s heart leaped at the words, but a moment later, he was sure he’d heard them wrong. Surely Griff wasn’t serious? Although, as the idea settled in him, he realized he liked it, and he hoped Griff really had meant it.

However, his partner’s body had relaxed into as deep a sleep as anyone could maintain in a car. He could ask him later, after they’d stopped.

But he didn’t stop smiling for many miles.

***

Lex drove straight through to Rocky Road and pulled into the first motel he found, not caring that it was just a Comfort Inn. It had already been a long day, and he just wanted to stop moving, order some food and find a bed, preferably in that order.

Griff didn’t even twitch when Lex pulled into the motel parking lot. He turned off the car and waited a minute. When Griff still didn’t move, Lex figured he’d be okay for a few minutes while he checked in.

He was reluctant to leave him, however. He wasn’t worried that anything would happen, but he was still feeling shaken by the separation earlier that day.

So of course, the person who checked him in was slow, taking several minutes to run Lex’s credit card and get him their room keys. It took all his self-discipline to keep from snapping. “Hurry up already!” at the young man. He did, however, take the extra time to get the phone number of a good pizza delivery place. He hoped the guy’s definition of “good pizza” was somewhat close to Lex’s, but he figured it would be better than chain stuff.

When he got back to the car, Griff was still asleep, but he was stirring, and Lex thought he’d wake up soon. Which would make getting him inside easier.

He moved the car close to their room, which, conveniently, was on the first floor. Lex usually preferred to be higher, but if he was going to have to help Griff, the lack of stairs would be helpful.

As soon as he parked, Griff opened his eyes, stretched and yawned. “Did you drive the whole way yourself?”

“Yeah. You were sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I could have taken my turn.”

Lex shrugged as he turned off the car. “No worries. We’re here now.”

Lex carried in their bags while Griff stumbled and yawned his way into their room. As soon as he was inside, he curled up on the bed in a small ball.

Lex looked down at him and frowned. That wouldn’t do. Food could wait. His lover and partner couldn’t.

He quickly stripped down to boxers and crawled onto the bed, curling up against Griff’s back. The other man sighed and shifted back to press closer to Lex. Lex gently rolled him over to lie on top of and kiss him. Griff shook his head and pulled back. “I don’t think I can.”

Lex kissed him again and ran his hands over Griff’s chest. “You can. I’m going to take care of you.”

While Lex generally preferred to bottom--he loved being filled by Griff--he was fine with switching on occasion, and he sensed his lover needed to be taken care of today.

“You mean?” Griff asked.

“Yeah. Wanna be inside you.”

Griff made a little whimper of need, and Lex smiled. He dipped down to lick and suck at Griff’s nipples, knowing from experience that it would arouse him the fastest. And it worked. It wasn’t long before Griff started thrusting against him.

“That’s right.” Lex slid down and took Griff in his mouth, working him with tongue and fingers until his partner gripped his hair and pulled. Lex enjoyed that, although Griff had taken some convincing.

“Lex…”

“Yeah. I know. Roll over.” He’d put the lube by the bed before starting, so he didn’t have to reach far to get it. Griff spread his legs to give him access and rocked against the pillow Lex had put under his hips.

It took a while to prep Griff—he wasn’t used to it and had a tendency to tense up at the wrong time—but Lex took his time, shamelessly stroking his prostate and actually getting his usually silent lover to cry out a few times. Eventually Lex had had him loose and relaxed enough that he thought he could try to enter him.

“Roll on your side,” he said as he lubed up his cock. Griff did so, and Lex positioned himself to slide in. Naturally, Griff tensed up, and Lex ran his fingers around his nipples again to distract him. Ease of access to Griff’s chest was the reason he’d selected the position.

Slowly, carefully, he entered Griff, enjoying the sensation. It was so different from a woman, and he liked the tight heat around him. Especially since it was Griff around him.

Griff pushed back against him and whimpered a little.

“Almost,” Lex soothed. “Relax a bit more for me?”

He gripped Griff’s cock, which had gone a bit soft, and stroked him back to full hardness. “There you go. Feel good?”

“Yeah.” The word was more breath than sound, and Lex smiled. Now he was able to get all the way in.

He began to move, starting with a slow, steady rhythm, and it felt so good. Not as good as Griff inside him, but still great. He moved his hand to roll Griff’s nipple between his fingers, and his partner actually moaned loudly. He smiled again. Getting any noises from Griff was always a success.

Griff’s hands gripped the sheets, and he pushed back against Lex, who took it as a command to move faster. It took him a couple of tries to get the angle right, but when Griff gasped suddenly, he knew he’d found his partner’s prostate.

“Yeah, Lex. Right there.”

He continued to thrust into his partner and reached around to stroke his cock. Griff suddenly arched back against him. Lex felt warm wetness on his hand, and his own cock was gripped hard, which was all he needed. He came a moment after his partner.

He hated to pull out but finally softened to the point where he had no choice, and they lay on the bed in a tangle of limbs. Griff rolled over to hug Lex and to hold him close. “Thank you,” Griff whispered into Lex’s hair. “I needed that.”

Lex shifted so he could kiss Griff’s chest. “I thought you did.” He got up and padded naked into the bathroom for a damp cloth to clean them up. When Griff tried to move and help, Lex pushed him back. “No. I got this.”

Once they were clean, Lex settled back on Griff’s chest, and his lover put both arms around him and held him tight. He thought about what Griff had said in the car, and he finally decided to just ask. “Griff?”

“Hmm?” came the sleepy response.

“Did you mean what you said in the car? Just before you fell asleep?”

Griff’s muscles tightened under him. “What? You heard that?”

Disappointment went through him.

“No,” Griff hastened to add. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

Damn psychic connection.

Fingers stroked his hair. “Yes, I meant it, but I figured it was way too early to even consider that. But the words slipped out before I could stop them. Figured I’d said them too quietly for you to hear.”

Lex propped himself up on an elbow. “So you did mean them.”

Griff’s amber eyes seemed to glow in the low motel lighting. “Of course I did. But, I mean, it’s probably too soon. We haven’t known each other that long.”

Lex leaned over and kissed him, hard, on the lips. “It’s a perfect time. I’m not going anywhere.”

Griff’s expression turned sad at that, and Lex poked him in the chest. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that you make me happy, and I can’t imagine wanting to be with anyone else. Isn’t that pretty much the definition of wanting to marry someone?”

Griff’s expression lightened. “I guess it is, yeah.” He sat up and took Lex’s hands in his. “So...uh...will you marry me, Lex?”

Lex smiled and squeezed back. “Yes.” Then he added. “On one condition.”

Griff frowned slightly but said, “Sure. If I can.”

“It’s easy, I think. Something small? Just friends? I don’t really have any family.”

Griff’s frown turned into a small smile. “Sure. I mean. It’s not like I have any either.” His smile slipped. “They’re all dead anyway.”

Lex hugged him. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to remind you.”

Griff hugged him back. “It’s okay. Small is fine. People from work, I guess?”

“Pretty much. Plus Dean, and...I guess Bill and maybe Jimmy if they want.”

“Sounds like a plan. When this is all resolved, we’ll plan it.”

They settled back down on the bed for a few minutes, until Lex’s stomach rumbled. They laughed, and Lex ordered pizza, which they fed each other on the bed, just managing not to spill sauce on the coverlet.

***

After pizza, Lex checked the cameras on Sam’s parsonage and said that everything looked settled for the night. While he did that, Griff called Dean, who said everything was fine with Bill.

“I explained things to him. He’s not happy about it, but he’s slowly adjusting to the idea.”

“Tell him we understand completely,” Griff said. “We only look okay with it because we’ve had several months to sort of get used to the idea.”

“I don’t think that will reassure him much.”

“Probably not,” Griff said with a laugh before hanging up.

“Bill’s having a rough adjustment?” Lex asked, still bent over his computer.

“Like that’s a surprise?”

“Not really.” Lex reached into his tech backpack and pulled something out, which he tossed to Griff. “You forgot him.”

Griff caught the stuffed bunny and felt shame and embarrassment curling in the pit of his stomach. Lex never judged him for wanting the toy with him, but Griff still couldn’t help feeling that he shouldn’t need it. Even though he did. “I didn’t forget it. I left it behind on purpose,” he said, his tone gruff with emotion.

“Yeah, I figured,” Lex said, starting to close the lid on his laptop. “But I knew you’d regret not having him. What are friends for, anyway?” He looked at Griff, love shining in his eyes.

Griff wondered, not for the first time, what exactly he’d done to deserve Lex.

Lex’s gaze travelled to where Griff was unconsciously clutching the toy close to him. He smiled. “See what I mean?” There was only love in his voice, with none of the judgement Griff still felt he deserved.

Lex stood up and walked over to hug him. “Griff? Really? I thought you’d have figured out by now that I really don’t mind.” He reached down to stroke the furry ears. “Kinda like having him around anyway. The way you hold him next to my chest when we sleep is nice. He’s soft.”

Griff kissed him. “All right. Thank you for bringing him then.”

“Still think the little guy needs a name.”

“I’m not quite ready to go that far with him.” Although he had named the toy. He just wasn’t ready to admit that he’d named him “Rex,” to rhyme with his lover’s...now fiancé’s?...name.

They climbed into bed and settled down, Lex with his back to Griff, who held him and the rabbit tight. They had just started to drift off when Lex’s phone went off with the Red Alert sound from Star Trek.

“Shit!” Lex exclaimed.

“What’s that?” Griff asked. He thought he knew all of the sounds from his partner’s phone.

Lex was scrambling for his laptop. “That’s one of my bots letting me know it’s detected suspicious activity on Sam’s camera. If it had been the Imperial March, it would have been the bot monitoring Bill’s feed.”

Even in the midst of the crisis situation, Griff took a moment to be amused at Lex’s geek side.

Lex had his laptop open and was navigating to the camera feed on Sam’s parsonage. Griff leaned on his back and watched over his shoulder. Lex flipped through the five cameras Stiles and Terri had set up. It wasn’t until he got to the fourth one, which monitored the front door, that they saw anything mildly suspicious. The front door was broken and hanging by one hinge.

“That doesn’t look good,” Griff said.

“No, it doesn’t.” Lex was already rewinding the feed from that camera. He went back just a few minutes, and they watched the recorded images of two large men breaking down the door. Just a couple of minutes later, the two men dragged Sam, struggling and protesting, out the door.

One of the men turned just enough that his face was visible. “Shit!” both Griff and Lex said in unison.

The security camera video quality wasn’t the best, but the facial features were unmistakable. He was another “twin.” Although the first one they’d seen with facial hair.

“I know we’re supposed to be worried for Sam, but wow, that sad excuse for a beard is awful. And those sideburns.” Lex commented.

“Let’s focus on how we’re going to get Sam out of this.” Besides, Griff really didn’t think Lex had any cause to criticize anyone for sideburns.

“Well, at least we have a good idea who’s responsible,” Lex said as he brought up the other cameras.

“I thought we took them all out?”

“Yeah. So did we all. Guess we were wrong,” Lex said, clicking with his mouse to enlarge the feed from the camera monitoring the front of the parsonage.

“Can you get a look at the license plate?” Griff asked.

Lex’s mouth was fixed in a straight line as he concentrated. “That’s what I’m trying to do, but I don’t think my laptop can do it. Going to need Terri to work on it.”

Griff already had his phone out and was calling. He knew it was late here and even later in D.C. However, Joshua usually kept odd hours.

Tonight was no exception. “Griff? What’s up? Everything all right with Bill?”

“Bill’s fine. Dean is with him. Lex and I are in Rocky Road to talk to Sam, but he’s just been kidnapped. By yet another ‘twin.’”

There was a pause on the line before Joshua said, “So we really have gotten to Lextuplets then.”

Griff rolled his eyes. The older man had made several comments over the last couple of months, making it clear he was too fond of the idea of there being at least six of them. “Yes, Joshua, there are six of us now.”

Lex groaned from the other side of the bed. “Oh, he didn’t just make the Lextuplets joke again.”

“Of course, he did,” Griff said before returning to the call. “We need someone to take a look at the video from Sam’s camera number five. Lex doesn’t think his laptop can bring up a license plate. Can someone get to it soon? We know it’s late, but…”

Joshua cut him off. “On it. I’ll call Terri now and get her back here.”

Griff hoped that Terri and Stiles weren’t on a date. Their on again/off again relationship was more on than off right now. However, this was important. “Thank you, Joshua.”

“Let us know what else we can do to help.”

“Anything you can get off the video will help. We need a place to start looking. Obviously, we thought we’d taken down the entire network, but apparently not.”

“I definitely can’t zoom in enough here,” Lex said. “I can get two letters, but that’s it. Also, let him know there’s just enough face visible on the other guy for Terri to reconstruct and run through the various databases. We might get lucky.”

Griff passed all that on.

“All right,” Joshua said. “I’ll call back as soon as we have something.”

“Thank you, Joshua,” Griff said before hanging up. “He’s going to call Terri in.”

“Poor Terri,” Lex said, still hunched over his computer.

“Why?”

“Stiles was taking her out tonight. He had something special planned. Was taking her to this new Indian place that just opened near L’Enfant Plaza.”

“Damn.” It’s what he’d worried about, but there wasn’t anything for it. “So poor Stiles too.”

“Only if they haven’t ordered yet. He wasn’t getting out of there for less than two hundred.”

Griff couldn’t help a smile, even considering the circumstances. Next, he called Dean to let him know.

“Hopefully you’ll be able to find him quickly,” Dean said after Griff had explained. “Want us to come out? Would two be more a help or a hindrance?”

Griff considered for a long moment. Finally, he said, “Stay for now. We don’t have enough to go on to know what needs to be done yet.”

“All right. Keep us posted.”

“We will.” He hung up and wasn’t sure what to do next. What avenues should he be following up on?

As he thought it through, as much as he hated the idea, he knew they needed to wait for more information before proceeding. And since it was late, the best thing they could be doing now was sleeping.

Lex was typing furiously, but when Griff glanced over his shoulder, he saw his partner was just accessing some of his usual databases, but without effective search terms, he was going to just be frustrated. So, Griff reached out and closed the laptop lid.

“Griff! No!”

“We’ve got nothing to search for yet. You’ve got two faces, one of which we know you won’t find. They covered those tracks too well.”

“Maybe not.”

Griff shook his head. “Lex, I’d bet everything I have, which admittedly isn’t much, that he’s not in a database anywhere. Dean was good enough to make sure of that.”

Which is when they both realized they did have another avenue to pursue.

“We can send his picture to Dean,” Lex said, his tone accusing.

“You’re right. We can do that.” Griff knew when to admit defeat.

Lex opened up his laptop, grabbed a screenshot of the clearest image of their lookalike and sent it to Dean. “There,” he said in triumph. “So what was that about having nothing to do?”

“I agreed you were right. But we still need to wait for Terri to do her thing on the other guy and the license plate.”

Lex’s phone beeped, and he pounced on it. A moment later, he shook his head and handed the phone to Griff.

_I don’t know him. There must have been another cell. I’m sorry. Karl didn’t tell me everything._

“So there really isn’t anything to do right now, Griff. You were right.”

Lex sounded so dejected that Griff reached out and pulled him close for a hug. “No. You were right. That was a good idea. But now, there is something we can do.”

Lex pulled, back, hope in his amber eyes. “What?”

“It’s late. We get some sleep while we wait.”

“Sleep?” Lex’s tone was indignant. “I can’t sleep now!”

Griff suppressed a grin. Sometimes he forgot how young his partner was. True, only four years separated them, but Griff had spent eight years in the army, which had taught him many things. And one of the most important was to sleep whenever possible. Kidnapping cases tended to move quickly, and they might not get another chance soon. “Yes, you can. Lie down. I’ll give you a massage to relax you.”

Lex shook his head. “No. We need to be doing something.” His eyes brightened. “We can go over to the parsonage and take a look around. You might find something we can follow up on.”

“Absolutely not! We have no legal authority to do that.”

A stubborn light appeared in Lex’s eyes.

“And no, you are _not_ going to make a fake ID for me to pass myself off as FBI.”

Lex shoulders slumped. “But shouldn’t we alert the authorities? Kidnapping cases need to be pursued aggressively. We shouldn’t wait, right?”

Griff gave that serious consideration before shaking his head. “I’m not sure this is exactly a kidnapping. It’s more of an abduction.”

“Same difference,” Lex insisted.

“Not exactly. A kidnapping is for ransom. You and I both know that we’re never going to get a ransom demand for him. The new cell has taken him. Maybe they have someone to transfer.” He couldn’t suppress the shudder at that. “They’ve been operating right under the noses of traditional law enforcement for decades. Now, if Joshua or Jackson want to involve the FBI, then let them liaison that. Someone will call the Rocky Road police soon enough, and they can do their thing, which is unlikely to help, but I doubt they will hurt anything.”

“Not much of an endorsement of your former profession.”

Griff shrugged. “You’re asking me to endorse an organization that basically threw me to the wolves? Sorry, I’m not in a rush to work with them again.”

Lex deflated somewhat. “So really? Sleep? That’s the best you’ve got?”

“Right now it is. Lie down.”

Lex grumbled under his breath but did as asked. He was still dressed in boxers and nothing else, and Griff dug his fingers into his partner’s tense shoulder and back muscles. It took several minutes, but he finally got Lex relaxed and pliant. He shuffled them both up the bed and under the blankets. Then he curled up against Lex’s back.

Lex grabbed the rabbit and held it against his chest. Griff smiled and held them both close. They might only get an hour or so of sleep before Joshua called with something from Terri, but he’d take it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can thank the Rich Bingo server for that smut scene. They convinced me it had to be spelled out. And who am I to not listen to directions? Especially *those* directions. XD


	5. Chapter 5

Luckily for them but not for Sam, it was almost three hours before Terri called them back.

“Lex, sorry it took me so long,” she said when he fumbled for the phone.

He glanced at the time and just managed not to swear at her. “It’s okay. What do you have?” He put the phone on speaker so Griff, who was just sitting up, could hear too.

“I’ve got the license plate number, and I ran it. Might give you something to work with.”

Lex was opening his laptop as she spoke. Damn! Why did it always take so long to wake up when time was of the essence? Griff started massaging his shoulders again, which was nice. Working with his partner around was better than when he’d worked alone. “Okay. What did you find?”

“It’s a rental, but I’ll send you the credit card information. It looks like it might be legit, unlike that time Dean set up the rental when you met him and Karl.”

“Dean thinks there’s a second cell,” Griff put in. “And maybe their computer tech isn’t as good as him.”

The credit card number popped up on Lex’s screen, and he started working on it.

“Also, got a hit on the second guy,” Terri continued. “The image wasn’t very good, and it took me forever to get it clear enough to search on.”

“That’s fine,” Griff said. “You got something at least.”

Lex supposed someone had to be encouraging. Because all he wanted to do was yell in frustration that it had taken so long. Griff must have picked up on his feelings because he started massaging his shoulders harder, somehow managing to do it in a way that didn’t interfere with his typing. That was a good skill to have.

“So, his name is Eddie Rossi. Small time muscle out of Kansas City. I’m thinking he’s hired? Probably not part of their organization.”

Griff was nodding. “Makes sense. It’s sounding like this cell isn’t as well organized as the D.C. one.”

“I’ll take it,” Lex said as he saved Eddie’s name to work on after he finished the credit card trace.

“So that’s what I’ve got so far. And yes, I did run the twin’s picture through various databases. The only matches I came up were you two, Bill and Sam.”

Griff chuckled. “Good to know that we all really do look enough alike that facial recognition software bring up all of us.”

“But it confirms what we already knew,” Lex said. “They did a pretty good job of keeping most of themselves out of databases.”

“I still wonder why Sam and Bill were allowed to run loose,” Terri said.

Lex and Griff had both wondered that and discussed it. Dean hadn’t been able to offer an explanation as Sam and Bill were two he hadn’t known about until the conspiracy had been dismantled and he had been freed. “Yes, so do we,” Lex said, quite able to speak and search at the same time. “Maybe we will get some answers when we find Sam.” He was determined that it be _when_ not _if_.

To track a credit card, first he had to break down the number, which he’d done so many times he barely had to think about it. The first digit was a “4” which told him it was a Visa card. The next numbers: 14720 told him it was issued by Chase and was a Chase Signature Visa. The rest of the numbers were the account number. Luckily Chase was a common card issuer, and he already had a back door into their system. It took him only a couple of minutes to get in. Fortunately, the rest of the digits were a real account number, which confirmed the person who made the reservation wasn’t a hacker. Lex knew how to create valid-looking credit card numbers and cards that would work but would, electronically speaking, self-destruct in a short period of time.

“Okay. This is a real card,” he said, working better when he talked it through. Griff encouraged it because he liked to follow along with Lex’s work.

He did a quick search and came up with a name and address of the owner of the card. Smiling, he did a quick fist pump. “Yes! These guys aren’t nearly as good as the other ones we dealt with.”

“Eddie Rossi owns the card?” Terri said, still on speaker.

“Right in one. And, assuming this is a real address, we have someplace to start looking.”

Next he pulled up Google Maps and input the address, which was a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. “Well, shit.”

“Not a real address?” Terri guessed.

“Nope.” He thought for a moment. “But I have an idea.”

“Really, Lex, an idea?” came another voice over the speaker.

“Yes, Joshua. I do get them on occasion. I think it’s why you hired me?”

“Perhaps. I’m old. I may have forgotten the reason.”

Griff barked out a laugh at that, and even Lex grinned. His boss did know how to lighten the mood and had an uncanny ability to know when it was needed.

Lex found the database of the local post office and proceeded to break into it.

“What are you doing?” Griff asked.

“Looking for a forwarding address on file,” Lex said as he typed in the fake address.

“But how could there be one?” Griff asked. “The post office wouldn’t process a forward from a fake address.”

“Nope,” Lex said, grinning as he found what he was looking for. “But someone could create a forwarding address record in the post office database, which is exactly what someone did.” He pointed at the screen which displayed a record forwarding from the fake address to a different address. Lex pulled up the second address on Google Maps, and, yes, it was a real address.

“You have something then?” came Joshua’s voice from the phone speaker.

“Yes,” Lex said. “Someone thought he was being clever while really being stupid. He created a fake address for the credit card, which apparently got accepted by Chase. Stupid of them. But that wasn’t the stupid part. That was him inserting a forwarding address in the post office database.”

“Doesn’t sound stupid to me,” Terri said. “Sounds smart.”

“Until Lex comes along behind you and messes up your day,” Griff said, sounding cheerful.

“To be fair,” Terri said. “That’s hardly an everyday occurrence.”

“Until you’re involved with the Lextuplets,” Joshua said, sounding smug.

“Enough with the Lextuplets!” both Lex and Griff exclaimed in unison.

“Anyway,” Lex said. “We have an address to check out. Looks like it’s in a residential area. If we’re really lucky, they have Sam there.”

“And if we’re really unlucky,” Griff said. “They also have several large guys with guns guarding him. There’s only two of us, and I only brought my handgun.”

Lex frowned. Griff was always after him to learn to shoot better. But many times when he even _thought_ about picking up a gun, he flashed back to shooting the assassin in the hospital and started shaking. He forced himself to carry them on missions, but for practicing? He usually came up with sixteen other things that needed doing instead.

“Can you scout the place, Griff?” Joshua asked. “We can coordinate with FBI office in Kansas City to plan an assault.”

“I think I can do that,” Griff answered. “But I wouldn’t object if you sent Stiles out our way.”

“I can do that,” Joshua said.

“It’s not like he had any plans for the evening,” Terri said, sounding disgruntled.

“Sorry about that, Terri,” Lex said. “When we see Sam, we’ll make sure to let him know he shouldn’t get kidnapped on your date night ever again.”

“You do that,” she said, humor in her tone.

“All right,” Griff said. “I’ll scout the area and see what’s up. If Sam is there, hopefully they won’t move him before we can plan something.”

“Hopefully,” Joshua said. “Keep us posted.”

“We will,” Lex said before disconnecting the call and zooming in on Google Maps in satellite view. “So let’s see what you’re getting into.” Griff leaned over his shoulder, and they planned his approach.

“Looks like I can get pretty close without being seen, if I come through the neighborhood from this direction.” Griff traced a possible route with one finger.

“That works.” He zoomed out and pointed one street over. “I can park here and keep an eye out for cars, pedestrians and the like. It’s well within our safe range.”

Griff got a dissatisfied look on his face.

“Griff, it’s fine. You want me nearby anyway as backup.”

“True.”

Griff rummaged through their suitcase, trying to find decent clothes for a stealth mission. “Shit. Didn’t pack for this.”

“You’re the one who decided I needed to be blissed out before packing.”

Griff pulled out their darkest pair of jeans and pulled them on. “We packed before I fucked you.”

“Then I was all anxious about the flight and not thinking properly,” Lex said with a grin as he pulled up several programs on his laptop. One of them was monitoring the local police band.

“You’ve packed for missions before and been anxious before a flight,” Griff shot back, not really annoyed with Lex but playing along.

“Stiles is the stealth guy, not me. I’m just the tech monkey.”

Griff frowned at the shirt options and finally selected Lex’s dark maroon dress shirt. Not ideal for reconnaissance but better than most of the other options. Then he took Lex’s leather jacket, which was darker than his own.

“If you get bullet holes in that, I’m going to be pissed.”

“I’ll buy you another one.” He leaned over the laptop, noting there wasn’t any significant chatter over the police band. “You pay all the bills anyway. My bank balance is just piling up.”

“When you save enough, I’ll quit and be a kept man.”

Griff snorted but didn’t respond to that comment. Instead he said, “Small town police not really on the ball. Surely someone would have called in a disturbance at the parsonage?”

“Unless no one noticed?” Lex said with a shrug, getting up to put on his own clothes. “Makes our life easier if cops aren’t running around everywhere.”

“True.”

It didn’t take long for Lex to put on jeans—their second darkest pair, his dark blue dress shirt and Griff’s leather jacket. He grabbed his laptop and said, “You ready?”

Griff nodded as he picked up his gun, strapped on his holster and dropped a spare magazine in a pocket. Lex handed him a communication earpiece, and put in his own.

Lex drove to the drop off point and settled with his laptop, brightness turned down low so it didn’t illuminate him too obviously. “Ready?”

Griff checked his gun one more time, to get into the right frame of mind. He leaned over, gave Lex a quick kiss and got out of the car.

He started by walking casually down the block, as if he were a resident out on a stroll. He was betting that even in a town this small, residents didn’t recognize everyone on sight.

As he walked, Lex spoke through his earpiece. “Which one of us wears white?”

Griff couldn’t help a blink of surprise. “What?”

“Well, I never really considered I’d be marrying a guy, so I never researched which one of us wears white.”

“Lex, considering the number of times I’ve been balls deep in you, I don’t think either of us can be remotely considered a virgin anymore.”

Lex laughed over the line. “True, but you’re calmer now.”

“What?”

“Remember how you kept insisting this thing was only one-way?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I _felt_ you calm down as I teased you.”

Griff hadn’t realized he’d been tense, but Lex was right. He was loose but alert. Exactly the right mood for this. However, “Even Dean says it’s one-way, and he’s the expert.”

“Dude? You really think Dean tried to connect with creepy Karl’s emotions? And he’s admitted he doesn’t know everything.”

Lex had a point, but Griff still couldn’t resist testing. He concentrated and tried to send a very specific emotion to Lex.

His lover’s laugh sounded low and husky in his ear. “If you were trying to make my pants tight, well congratulations, it worked. And yes, I want you to fuck me as soon as possible.”

Griff smiled, but he still hadn't expected that to work.

“This is the first time I was sure,” Lex said, serious again. “It’s kind of like finding the right frequency on the radio. Took me a while to find it, but now I think I have it. Just emotions, though. No words.”

Griff thought that was still worth experimenting with, and he was starting to think maybe this ability of his wasn’t completely awful.

“While this is interesting, and I can appreciate you trying to relax me, I do still need to check this place out. And making me think about sex is perhaps not the best way for me to concentrate.”

“I don’t know. You concentrate very well during sex.”

Griff barked out a quick laugh. “All right, you. But are there any police around or other things I need to be concerned about?”

“Nope. You’re clear.” It always surprised Griff how quickly his partner could go from silly/snarky to professional.

“All right. I’m going in. Let me know if anything changes.”

“I got your back, partner.”

Griff had to remind himself that he was supposed to be concentrating on his mission, not thinking about how much he loved it when Lex called him “partner.”

Pushing those thoughts aside, he did his own quick check of his surroundings. The only person on the street was about half a block ahead, a guy walking a medium-sized dog. The light level was too low to be certain, but Griff thought it might be some sort of hound mix. He’d need to be aware of where they went. A dog could mess him up, especially if it were territorial.

He sidestepped between two houses and started moving fast through backyards, going less for stealth than speed, while still moving quietly. Stiles was better at this than he was, but Griff wasn’t bad, and it only took him a couple of minutes to get to the house in question.

It was a medium-sized single-family house, two stories with a nice wrap around porch. Griff smiled. Provided it was well maintained, he could use the porch to his advantage. Crouching in the yard next door, concealed by a couple of well-placed bushes, he examined the house.

The upstairs was dark, and, on the two sides he could see, there were lights in what he thought were three rooms. One was probably a living or dining room from the size of the window. The curtains were drawn, and he couldn’t see in, but he did see a shadow moving in the room beyond. From the size and shape, he estimated an adult male. The second light was definitely in the kitchen. The blinds were half-raised, and he could just make out a battered card table. He wasn’t sure about the third light. Perhaps a downstairs bedroom, office or study?

“Anything?” came Lex’s voice in his ear.

“I have a visual of the house. Two story. Lights on in three rooms. One target visible in what is probably the living room or dining room.”

“I’ve got a layout pulled up here. Assuming someone hasn’t made a major renovation, there’s a living/dining area, a kitchen, a half bath and a…seriously? A parlor? The eighteen eighties are calling and want their room back.”

Griff smiled. “That matches what I’m seeing here, although I’d been thinking office or second bedroom instead of a parlor.”

“Even calling it a library would have been more up to date.”

“What’s upstairs?”

“Three bedrooms, none of them large and a full bath.”

Griff considered his approach, wishing he had the good toys. Body heat sensing cameras would make this easy. However, all he had were his wits and ability to move silently. “Okay, there’s a wrap-around porch. I’m going to see if I can get onto it and peek into a few windows. Also, maybe there is a convenient trellis or tree to get me a look at the second floor.”

“Be careful. We could always wait for Stiles to get here. Or coordinate with the local authorities.”

Lex was right. They could do that. But Griff was feeling ambitious and wanted to test his skills.

“I’ll be careful. I’ll let you know what I find.”

Griff took a careful look around, making sure no one was in sight. Then he made his move on the house.

***

Lex hated this part. He hated it when Stiles was scouting. He particularly hated it when it was his now fiancé. However, even in the midst of nerves, he couldn’t help smiling at the thought that he was now engaged. _Take that, Olivia!_ he couldn’t help thinking.

He listened to the police band and flipped back and forth between the two security cameras he’d been able to find and hack. One faced the main road, which he figured would be the route any police would take into the community. The other was a lucky find. The house across from their target had a camera mounted on the side facing the street. It wasn’t a great angle, but he could see about half of the house.

As he watched, the porch light went on and several shadows moved inside the house. Crap! Lex sat up straight. “Griff?”

Silence over the line.

“Griff!”

He tried to tune into his sense of Griff’s emotions, but he was too agitated and couldn’t find it. Making a mental note to practice that under simulated mission conditions, he called his partner’s name one more time.

“Lex! Go!” Griff’s voice was loud in his ear.

Before he had a chance to say anything in return, the line went dead.

Shit! There was motion on the badly positioned camera, and Lex could just make out two guys pushing Griff inside the front door. He was pretty sure one of them had a gun.

His hands were moving before his brain had caught up. Laptop tossed into the passenger seat. Starter pushed. Car in gear. Driving at a sensible speed back toward their hotel.

Shit! They had Griff. What could he do? Next thought. Why was he driving away from Griff? Stupid! He knew better than that. And if he’d still forgotten, the pull to Griff started. He turned at the next intersection and started back, swearing at himself for being such an idiot.

As he drove back, he swapped earpieces for his Air Pods, and he called Joshua.

His boss picked up on the second ring. “Lex?”

Fear coursing through him, he fell back to his usual defense mechanism. Snark. “So, Joshua, I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“Okay?”

“The good news? We know where Sam is. The bad? Now we have to rescue Griff too.”

“Son? What happened?”

“Griff went close to the house to see if he could figure out how many people were in there, but they saw or heard him and took him inside at gunpoint. And then I was _stupid_ and drove away! I know I can’t get that far away from him. How could I have made such a stupid mistake?”

“Lex. Deep breath.”

Lex found himself obeying. He took two deep breaths while he drove.

“Okay? Better now?”

“Yeah, Joshua. Thanks.”

“All right. Where are you now?”

“Driving back to the neighborhood.”

“Excellent. Don’t beat yourself up. You made a mistake, but you’re fixing it.”

Lex knew what his boss was trying to do, but he resisted it. “Stiles wouldn’t have made it in the first place.”

“You’re not Stiles, son. And Stiles hasn’t ever just watched his world get captured by the bad guys.”

Joshua knew him so well.

“The important part is that you turned around. Which is exactly what you need to do. Stiles and Terri are in the air now. They land in about three hours and Gage agreed to charter a plane from KCI to the regional airport next you. So, hang tight. They’ll be there soon, and you’ll have back up.”

Lex turned onto the street where Rossi’s house was, and he parked five houses down, far enough not to be seen but close enough that he’d see if they left. Most of the lights were on in the house, and there were still three cars parked in the driveway and on the street. He breathed a little easier. It didn’t look like they had left. He hadn’t screwed up.

“I’m parked nearby. I can see the house.”

“That’s good. You know how to tail them if they move. Hopefully you rented something nondescript?”

Lex knew the tone of voice and that Joshua was teasing. However, he couldn’t help but remember Griff telling him that “no, Lex, you may not rent a sports car for this trip.”

“Yep. Ford something. Dark color.”

“Ah. I sense Mr. Krenshaw’s hand in that.”

“You know me too well.” But he was smiling as he said it.

“That I do, son. Anyway, stay put and watch the house. Follow them if they leave. At least they won’t be able to fool you by splitting up in multiple cars. You’ll know which one has Griff.”

Lex realized Joshua was right. It was faint, but he could sense Griff’s presence in the direction of the house. “But not Sam.”

“No, but one thing at a time. Griff is our first priority.”

“Okay, Joshua. I’ve got it.” His heartbeat had returned to normal, and he was able to think without fighting pure panic. In fact, he had an idea.

“Stay calm, Lex. We’ll handle it.”

“Yes, we will.”

“Keep me posted?”

“Of course.” Lex disconnected, only half paying attention to the conversation. He was already planning the steps of his next hack.

His laptop had wedged itself between the passenger seat and the door. He retrieved and opened it.

If Rossi was like a significant number of Americans, he had an Amazon Echo or similar smart device. If he did and Lex could hack it, he’d have an ear into the house. And of course Lex could hack it.

He already had a backdoor into Chase’s system which meant it was easy enough to find Rossi’s credit card account and, yes, there was an email address. Eddie_Rossi@yahoo.com. Lex grinned. Yahoo was so much easier to hack than Google.

He opened up a Yahoo Mail screen and, bam. 111111. Number 6 on the 2018 most used password list. Lex rolled his eyes at the guy’s stupidity, but it did make his life easier. Now he was in Rossi’s email. A quick search—well quick for Yahoo, their email search sucked—and he determined that, yes, Rossi did have an Amazon account, and he used this email to log in.

Time to log into the Amazon account. Well, huh. Rossi had a teeny, tiny bit of brains. He didn’t use the same password as his email account. Lex quickly tried, in turn, the other nine of the remaining top ten passwords. None of them. All right. Plan B, the “lost password approach.” He clicked the link, which sent a “change password email” to Rossi’s email.

Lex smiled as he changed Rossi’s password to a random sequence of 32 digits. Now he was in Rossi’s account. While he was there, just to be evil, he activated two-factor authentication, and used one of his burner phones as the number to use.

In less than five minutes, he was in Rossi’s Amazon account, and, yes, he had three Echo devices. Excellent. They were notoriously easy to hack, and in just a few minutes, Lex had control of all of them. Now to listen.

“I don’t know how he found my address, Pete.”

“Probably from the credit card you used to rent the car. _Your personal credit card!_ ”

Lex assumed the first voice was Rossi. The second one sounded a great deal like him and Griff. So, the sixth lookalike was named Pete? That wasn’t a German name at all. Did that mean he was a buffer? If Lex could get a last name, he could look the guy up.

“Look, Mister…” That was Griff.

“North. Pete North.”

Lex could have cheered. He doubted Griff had done that by accident. Did he know Lex was listening in? Maybe he did.

He opened a new window, listening to the conversation over the Echo with half of his attention while he did a search for “Pete North.” Not surprisingly, a quick name search was too long to do anything with. So, he started narrowing it. It would have been easier if he’d known exactly where Pete lived, but he combined a facial recognition search with the name search and left that running while he went back to listening to the conversation.

His initial impression of Pete and Rossi were that they weren’t the brightest. They seemed to be stuck on playing the blame game. Which was fine with Lex. The more time they spent on that, the more time he had to find Pete and learn more about him. Plus, every minute they bickered was a minute they weren’t moving Griff and Sam.

“All right, Pete. You’re right. I screwed up. But what do we do now?” Rossi sounded frustrated.

“I could make a suggestion,” came Griff’s calm voice.

“You keep quiet,” Pete said.

“Pete, you know what I am,” Griff said, undeterred. “And I think you’re like me.”

Lex’s eyebrows went up. Pete was a vessel? One who hadn’t been inhabited yet? Then what was going on? Was this tied to the conspiracy thing? Or was Pete a free agent?

“Yeah,” Pete said. “What of it? Doesn’t change anything. If I can turn over two of you, that’s even better for me.”

“I still don’t understand!” came another voice that sounded like all of them. Lex assumed that was Sam. “Why have you kidnapped me? And why are there two of you who look like me?”

Lex felt bad for Sam. This was an awful way to start finding out what he’d been bred for.

“Shut up! All of you!” Pete again. Lex didn’t like the strident edge to his voice. Was he about to snap too?

His laptop beeped, and he glanced over. Pete’s face was on his monitor. He’d found him. After quickly reading over the entry, he sat back in his seat. Things had gotten even weirder.

He tapped his Air Pod and called Joshua again, still keeping part of his attention on the conversation going on in the house. Griff was trying to calm Pete down. Sam kept insisting he didn’t understand. Rossi was silent. Lex didn’t like that. What was he doing?

“Lex?”

“I know who the other guy who looks like us is. His name is Pete North. He’s not really anyone. A couple of minor drug offenses. He’s part of a garage band and works for a pharmaceutical company.” He squinted at the screen. “Restocking or something.”

“Want me to see if we can learn anymore from here?”

“Yeah, go ahead. I’m just trying to figure out how he fits into this whole thing. I mean, Griff said Pete was like him?”

“Is Griff out of the house?”

Lex realized he was rambling and not making much sense. “No. Rossi owns an Echo, and he has it in the room where they all are, so I’m listening to their conversation. I think Griff knows somehow and is trying to feed me information.”

“Son, you are barely making any sense.” Joshua sounded both amused and annoyed.

“Sorry. I’m just trying to figure out what Pete’s doing in this. It seems like he’s himself, not a vessel occupied by an ancient Nazi. If Griff’s right, though, he’s a vessel, not a buffer like I was thinking. So, what’s his interest in Sam? And he told Griff that having two of them turn over was better. But turn over to who?”

“Maybe another cell?” Joshua suggested. “Perhaps Pete is working for them? They are trying to collect loose…ends?”

Lex stifled a snort. He knew his boss well enough to suspect he’d been about to say “loose vessels and buffers.” Which would have been offensive if he didn’t know Joshua didn’t mean it that way.

“Maybe? If that’s the case, they didn’t pick the brightest people for this.” He tuned in to the conversation again. It sounded as if Griff was trying to keep them stalled out. Go Griff. “Griff’s managing to keep them tied in verbal knots. How long until Terri and Stiles are here?”

“Still a couple of hours. Sorry. We got them moving as fast as well could, but you know how it is.”

“Yeah.”

Pete’s strident voice caught his attention. “We need to go like now, Rossi. This one could have backup.”

“Shit, Joshua. Pete just got hit by a clue by four. Sounds like they are about to move out.”

“Keep up with them. Hopefully they aren’t good at counter surveillance.”

“We can hope. I’ll call you when I know where they end up.”

“Take care of yourself.”

“Will do.” He hung up and partially closed the lid on his laptop. He didn’t want to lose the stream from the Echo until they were out of the house, but he didn’t want Pete and Rossi to see the light either. Better that they stayed in the literal dark for as long as possible.

Lex hoped Stiles and Terri got here soon. Before Griff was in real trouble. Because Lex wasn’t sure he could get him out of there by himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Griff cursed himself for his clumsiness. He’d tripped over a loose tool or the like in the yard on his way to the porch and Rossi had heard him. Before he’d been able to get away, the big man, backed up by Pete, both of them with guns, had him covered and had hustled him inside. It was a rookie mistake, one he couldn’t believe he’d made.

On the other hand, he was now in the same place as Sam. Which, if he were careful, he might be able to turn to his advantage.

He’d had a bad moment when he felt his connection to Lex stretch, but it hadn’t lasted long. He wasn’t sure what that had meant, but he’d been glad when he felt Lex nearby. A few minutes after he’d felt him come back, he’d sensed sudden focus and excitement from him. Playing a hunch, he assumed his partner had figured out some way to listen in. The prominent Echo device in the living room had caught his eye on his way in, and he remembered Lex saying they were easy to hack.

Figuring it couldn’t hurt, he’d easily manipulated Pete into revealing his last name. If Lex were listening, he’d be able to search him out. What advantage that gave them he didn’t know, but hopefully it would lead to something.

Sam had been sitting, tied to a ladder-back chair. They’d brought in another one and had tied Griff to it, but he thought he could get free if he worked at it. Rossi had thought he’d tied a good knot, but he hadn’t quite tightened it the way he should have.

Just minutes after being captured, he’d felt the affinity with Pete and knew he was a vessel too. Listening to the two of them snipe at each other, and egging them on, he thought Pete was still his own man. Griff was glad. He didn’t wish being the victim of a transfer on any of his “brothers.” Not even one who was clearly in the kidnapping business.

Unfortunately, he also suspected Pete was about to snap. He couldn’t say how he knew, but his psychic sense was sending him a warning, and that was his best guess.

While he let the two argue—and damn, Pete was a hyper bastard—Griff concentrated on Sam, who was confused by the situation and spent most of his time with his eyes cutting between Griff and Pete, obviously trying to figure out why they both looked like him. Griff ignored his nervousness and stretched his psychic ability, trying to figure out what Sam was.

Finally, he decided he didn’t feel an affinity with Sam. If he had to guess, he’d say that Sam felt like Lex and Dean. So probably a buffer? Was he sure enough to risk both of them on the plan forming in his mind?

Deciding he didn’t have too many other options, he turned his attention back to Pete and Rossi. Rossi was typical hired muscle, no brighter than the norm but not stupid either. Pete was walking back and forth, no part of his body still for more than a second. Head, hands, shoulders. Everything was in constant motion. Normal behavior for him or a sign of trouble?

Rossi was eying him, watching Pete pace back and forth. His expression grew more worried while still keeping up the argument, Finally, though, he sighed and said, “All right, Pete. You’re right. I screwed up. But what do we do now?”

Griff saw his chance. Maybe. “I could make a suggestion.”

“You keep quiet,” Pete said.

He needed to establish rapport, and he decided to bet on Pete knowing at least some about what he and Griff were.

“Pete, you know what I am,” Griff said. “And I think you’re like me.”

Pete actually stopped his restless motion for a few seconds. Then he started shifting his weight from side to said while he said, “Yeah. What of it? Doesn’t change anything. If I can turn over two of you, that’s even better for me.”

Griff was thinking through his answer when Sam exclaimed, “I still don’t understand! Why have you kidnapped me? And why are there two of you who look like me?”

It was a fair question but the wrong time for it.

“Shut up! All of you!” Pete was rubbing at his arm, where Griff saw words written. Code? Grocery list? What?

The more Griff watched Pete, the more convinced he was his twin was going to snap. And soon. Which meant he needed to get Sam and Pete into physical contact with each other. There was no guarantee it would fix anything, but it might keep the situation from getting dire.

“Pete, I don’t know what connection you have to them, but you don’t need to work with them. I’m a free agent. You could be too.”

“I’m a free agent already. They got nothing on me. They need me, and they know it.” He continued to pace, hands patting his shirt pocket. “Anyone got smokes?”

Rossi rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You need to focus, man.”

Griff wanted Pete to pay attention to him, not Rossi, and he spoke, allowing some urgency into his voice. “What do they need from you, Pete? What are you giving them?”

“Isn’t it obvious? They need me to round up you guys who are loose. Once I turn over you and Sam, I’ll go get Bill.” He smirked. “And that hacker guy. Lex? The one I think you’re fucking.”

Griff kept a firm hold on his emotions. So, he knew about Lex. It was fine. Lex was still free. Lex wouldn’t do anything stupid. Would he? He spared a moment to check their connection, and the muscles in his shoulders relaxed. As far as he could tell, Lex was still calm and focused. Good.

Just then, Pete twitched and paced faster. Rossi had been quiet, and Griff thought he was looking worried.

“We need to go now.” Pete said. “This one could have backup,” he added, motioning to Griff.

“Go where, Pete?”

“Where we’re turning these guys over, obviously.” He motioned in the direction of another room. “Come on. Let’s go get the stuff we need.”

Rossi and Pete left. Griff suppressed his sigh of relief. He’d been hoping for a short amount of time alone with Sam.

“Sam,” he hissed. “I know you don’t know me, but I can get us out of this if you’ll trust me.”

“And why should I do that?” Sam asked.

It was a reasonable question. “I’m Griff Krenshaw, and I work for the CIA. My partner and I came here to talk to you.”

“That’s working out really well for all of us.”

Griff nodded. “I know. Look, I’ll explain everything when we get out of here. My partner is out there.” He motioned with his chin in the rough direction of where he felt Lex. “You’re the key to making this work.”

Sam gave him a puzzled look and his eyes cut between the door where Pete and Rossi had gone and the ropes binding him. “How do you figure that?”

Griff slid one of his hands from the ropes. He’d been working at it the entire time the two had been bickering. “I can take one of them. I’ll focus on Rossi. But you can slow down Pete.”

“How?”

“Touch him. Even better, hold onto him.” He paused and did a kind of embarrassed head shake. “Uh. Hugging him would be really good.”

Sam’s eyes got really wide. “Hug him?”

His voice was almost loud enough to be heard in the next room, and Griff used his free hand to make a quiet it down motion. “Look. I know it sounds really weird but trust me. At the worst, it will make him pause for a few seconds, which is all I need to take down Rossi. At best, it will make Pete…well…sort of wise up and maybe stop all of this.”

“You’re crazy, man.”

“Yeah, I know how it sounds. But, please. Just trust me. They’re going to have to untie us to move us. I’m going to try to goad Rossi into untying me. Which hopefully will mean Pete unties you. Just…like I said, touch at the minimum, but the more contact you can have with him, the better.”

“This is sounding pretty gay,’ Sam said. But something in his tone let Griff know he was at least considering it. Finally, Sam shrugged and said, “What the hell. It’s not like it’s any crazier than the time I cross-dressed to stop a crook.”

Griff raised an eyebrow at that. “You’re going to have to tell me that story when we get out of here.”

“Yeah. Let’s actually get out of here first.”

Footsteps sounded outside. Sam turned to face the door. Griff slid his hand back into the ropes. Rossi and Pete came back in, carrying handcuffs and a couple of duffle bags.

“We’ll untie ‘em and then cuff them,” Pete said. “Get them into the car, and then I’ll call the man and let him know we’re coming.”

Griff was inwardly amused at Pete calling his contact “the man.” Was that rebellion or a lame attempt to hide his identity?

He’d had a plan to goad Rossi, but luckily Pete motioned his companion over to Griff while he went for Sam. Griff struggled, trying to slow down Rossi. The timing worked better if Sam had a moment to make his move before Griff made his.

“Stay still, you. Or I’ll knock you upside the head and you’ll give me no trouble.”

“Hey! No damaging the merchandise,” Pete said while he was untying Sam.

“He won’t stay still.”

“You’re a big guy. You can handle a shrimp like him.”

“You’re not any bigger than him.”

Pete finished untying Sam, who moved faster than Griff had expected. He did exactly what Griff had asked of him, standing up, shoving the chair aside and tackling Pete, landing on top of him, in what would have been a compromising position under different circumstances.

Griff slid his hands from the ropes, and stood suddenly, his head hitting Rossi under the chin hard enough to make his teeth clack. The big man staggered back, and Griff followed him, hitting him once in the stomach and then again in the neck. Rossi went down, choking. Griff quickly restrained him with the handcuffs he’d dropped. Then he grabbed the gun from Rossi’s waistband and moved to where he could cover Pete, who was lying under Sam, his eyes dazed and not quite tracking.

“Sam. You okay?”

Sam nodded from his position on top of Pete. “Yeah. But what’s wrong with him? And can I get up now?”

Griff nodded. “Yes. I’ve got him covered. You can get up. Thank you. That worked. You did well. Is there anyone else here, or just these two? Anyone who might have left and be coming back?”

Sam shook his head as he rolled off Pete and got to his feet. “I never saw anyone else. Pete talked to someone on the phone, but he never used a name. I got the impression it was a guy though.”

Pete shivered and gave a little whimpering noise when Sam got up.

“What’s wrong with him?” Sam asked.

“In a minute.” Griff glanced in the direction of the Echo on the mantel, still covering Pete with the borrowed pistol. “We’re okay. You can come in now, Lex.”

“Lex?” Sam asked. “The guy you’re…uh…you know? What Pete said.”

Griff sighed in exasperation. “Yes, Lex is my partner. In several senses.”

“And he was listening in from the Echo?”

“I think so,” Griff said. “He’s a hacker, so I know he could be, but I don’t know if he actually is.”

“Oh,” Sam said, clearly confused.

Griff grabbed the handcuffs Pete had dropped in the struggle. “Here. Roll him on his side and cuff his hands behind his back. I’ll cover him.”

Pete was still obviously in a daze, and he didn’t react when Sam cuffed him.

“Again, what’s wrong with him?”

“That’s going to take a lot of explaining, and I’d rather be away from here when we do it.” As soon as Pete was cuffed, Griff knelt beside him and reached into his jacket pocket for his cell phone. Hopefully Lex would be able to get something useful from it.

Speaking of which, the door opened. Griff stood up and covered it with his gun, but he wasn’t worried, having been pretty sure it was Lex. On the other hand, someone could have captured Lex, so better to be safe.

“Just me, Griff,” the hacker said as he stepped in the door and closed it behind him. Griff saw the relief in his eyes. He wanted to go over to Lex and hug him, but this wasn’t the time. He made sure to get his wishes across in his gaze, however. Lex nodded and returned the affectionate look.

“Another one?” Sam exclaimed.

“Oh. You haven’t had a chance to explain yet?” Lex asked.

“Been a little bit busy, Lex,” Griff retorted.

Lex gave him a grin. “Glad you’re okay, man. And hi, Sam.”

Sam shook his head. “You all seem to know me, and I have no clue who you all are.”

“We’ll explain as soon as we can,” Lex said. “Promise.” He glanced at Rossi, who was still lying on the floor, obviously trying to breathe.

“I think I shattered his windpipe,” Griff said matter-of-factly.

“Want me to call an ambulance?” Lex asked.

“Why wouldn’t you want to?” Sam asked, sounding appalled.

“We need to figure out if it’s worth bringing in the local authorities,” Griff answered.

“Again? Why wouldn’t you?”

“He’s right, Griff,” Lex said.

“Call Joshua,” Griff said. “Let him know what’s happened. Then call an ambulance. But we’re taking Pete with us.”

“Righto,” Lex said, pulling out his phone.

“Who’s Joshua?” Sam asked. “More importantly, does he look like us too?”

Griff snorted. “No, he doesn’t. And he’s Lex’s boss and kind of mine too. Depending on my mission at the time.”

“He’s yours right now,” Lex said cheerfully as he made the call.

Griff left Lex to the call while he considered. They could just explain the situation to Sam and then head back to Jericho, assuming Sam was willing to come along. Or they could try to figure out who Pete was working for and maybe take down some missing cabal members.

Lex was putting away his phone and stepping up beside him before he’d made his decision. “Joshua says call the ambulance. He’ll make sure we’ve got cover.”

Griff nodded. “Do it then.”

“What are you thinking, partner?”

“I’m thinking Pete gives us an opportunity to find and take down more cabal members.”

“Terri and Stiles are on their way. Just a few hours out.”

“Cabal? Terri? Stiles?” Sam asked. “Remember. Still here. Still clueless.”

“We need to explain to him,” Lex said.

“Yeah,” Griff agreed. “Let’s get Pete to the car.” He glanced up at Sam. “You willing to come with us and get an explanation?”

Sam shrugged. “I guess? I mean, I am curious.”

“All right,” Griff said, tucking the pistol in his waistband and searching for where Rossi had put his gun after they’d captured him. Ah, there. On a side table.

Lex had lifted Pete to his feet and was supporting him. Pete still looked dazed and was weaving, even with Lex’s support. “Let’s go,” Lex said. “You can call the ambulance from the car.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Griff helped Lex with Pete, and the three of them, followed by San, trooped out to the car, where they put Pete in back

“Lex, he’s a vessel,” Griff said. “Can you sit with him?”

Lex nodded, clearly following what Griff was really asking. _Can you try to stabilize him?_ He handed over the gun to the hacker who climbed in with Pete and put an arm around him.

Griff had to suppress his completely irrational jealousy at the sight.

Sam took shotgun, and Griff called the ambulance for Rossi before starting back to the motel, where they could fill in Sam and wait for Terri and Stiles to arrive.

Griff was in the mood to mess up a few more Nazis.

***

Lex had sat tensely in the car while he listened, first to the quiet conversation between Sam and Griff and then the short struggle. He’d been amused by Sam’s reaction to being told to basically hug Pete. But he’d held his breath until he’d gotten the _all clear_ from Griff.

When he’d entered the house, he’d wanted to run to Griff, touch him and reassure himself that his partner was all right. Sure, his eyes and good sense told him everything was fine, but a part of him didn’t believe it until he’d actually touched Griff.

He’d met Griff’s eyes from across the room and been reassured when he saw his partner felt the same way.

Griff had handed him Pete’s phone on their way out of the house, and he’d pocketed it to examine when they got back to the motel. With any luck, there would be numbers to research which might lead them to this cell of the conspiracy.

When he sat beside Pete and touched him, he felt something similar to the circuit closing he felt when he touched Griff. But it didn’t close all the way and was unsatisfying. He wanted to be touching his partner, not this strange vessel. However, Pete gave a little sigh and seemed to relax a bit at the contact, so Lex supposed he was doing some good. But the numbers didn’t match up right now. Sure, they had the same number of vessels and buffers, but one of those was Dean, and he couldn’t properly connect with either Bill or Pete.

“Is anyone going to explain anything to me?” Sam asked.

Griff gave him the high-level explanation while he drove. Lex watched Sam’s body language, and he was surprised that the man seemed to be taking it fairly well.

When Griff finished, Sam said, “So we were all bred for this weird stuff?

“Pretty much,” Lex said.

“And really? Nazis?”

Griff chuckled. “That’s everyone’s reaction, but yes.”

Lex eyed Pete, who was sitting quietly, eyes closed. Lex thought he was awake, though. “Sam. A question?”

Sam turned to face the back. “Sure?”

“When you touched Pete, was it kind of like a circuit closed? If that even makes sense?”

Sam’s gaze went unfocused for a moment, but then he nodded. “Yeah. I think I know what you mean. But does it make sense if I say it didn’t feel like it closed all the way?”

Lex frowned. “Yes, that makes perfect sense. Which means you aren’t his buffer. Damn.”

“They have mine,” Pete said, speaking for the first time since he’d been subdued.

Griff glanced in the rear-view mirror. “They?”

Pete’s eyes were still closed. “The guys who wanted me to deliver you and Sam. They said if I did it, they’d let him be with me.”

“Yeah, about that,” Sam interjected. “Um, I mean it’s pretty obvious, Griff, that you and Lex are together. And, okay, I’ll meet this Bill guy. I don’t want anyone going insane if I can help. But I’m not looking for…”

“Don’t worry about that,” Griff said. “Apparently Lex and I are unusual in having a romantic connection.”

“Yeah,” Pete put in. “That’s what they told me. It’s fine.”

“Good,” Sam said, sounding relieved.

Griff pulled into the motel lot and parked. “But there is one thing we haven’t told you yet.”

Sam looked alarmed. “Which is?”

“Only vessels go insane if they aren’t buffered. You’re fine until you meet yours. Apparently, though, once you and he have been together for a while, you end up in extreme pain if you’re separated.”

“I can attest to that,” Lex said. He looked at Pete. “Had you and yours been together long enough for that? Is he suffering somewhere?”

“No,” Pete said. “They introduced us to make sure we were a match, and then they sent me straight out here to find you guys. We only saw each other for a couple of hours. Not long enough to form a real connection.” Pete was starting to twitch under his arm, and Lex pulled back to give the guy some room. His head moved back and forth, as if he were listening to unheard music. Was this normal behavior for him or was he about to snap?

However, he was relieved that Pete’s buffer wasn’t in constant pain right now. Something was going right. He picked up the thread of conversation. “But, Sam, you needed to know about that. Griff and I kind of happened into this whole thing. We’d rather you went in eyes open.” He hoped his partner didn’t take that the wrong way, which he often did.

He saw Griff watching him from the rear-view mirror and give a small nod. Lex’s shoulder relaxed. Okay, he was in agreement.

Sam was frowning. “Okay. Yeah. That might be a problem. But I guess we can deal with it after we do whatever it is we’re doing next.”

No one had moved to get out of the car yet. “Pete?” Griff asked. “Will you help us take down the guys who sent you to get us? We can find your buffer and probably get you set up somewhere. Doesn’t seem like you’ve really hurt anyone yet.”

“Rossi?” Pete asked. “I hired him.”

“He’s got a record,” Lex said. “And you don’t. Not really. I think we can make the case that you were working for them and hired him under duress.”

Griff was nodding from the front seat. “We can definitely make that case.”

“You okay with that, Sam?” Lex asked. “You’re the one he kidnapped.”

Sam shrugged. “Sounds like extenuating circumstances to me. Yeah, I’d be okay with it.”

“Sounds like a plan, then,” Lex said. “Let’s get inside and you can fill me in on who you’ve been dealing with, Pete. I’ll see what I can find out before Terri and Stiles get here.”

They all got out of the car and headed into the motel room. As soon as they got inside, Pete shook his hands, still cuffed behind his back. “Can I get these off?”

Griff turned to Lex. “What do you think?”

Lex considered for a moment, thinking through the faint impressions he’d gotten from his contact with Pete. He’d touched both Bill and Griff after they’d snapped, and he didn’t think Pete had snapped yet, weird twitchy behavior aside. On the other hand, he suspected the man was close to it. Finally, he said, “I think it’ll be okay. I don’t think he’s snapped yet. But keep an eye on him.”

Griff nodded and undid the cuffs. Pete rubbed his wrists and sat down on one of the beds. “What do you need from me?”

Lex took the phone out of his pocket. “Which one of these should I be researching?”

“And when does your contact expect you’ll be turning us over?” Griff said. “And where?”

“The guy is listed in my phones as just Edward,” Pete said. His tone was listless, which was concerning to Lex. He’d heard that tone from Griff, and it was never good. “He was expecting me in five hours at the Costco parking lot.”

Griff blinked at him. “In the Costco parking lot?”

Pete shrugged. “His idea. He’s a weird dude.”

Lex and Griff exchanged puzzled looks. “Either this guy is incompetent…” Lex said.

“Or he was going to call with the real location,” Griff ended. “If he did that, you couldn’t prepare an ambush or something in advance.”

Lex nodded. “That would make sense. Lots more sense than him picking up you guys in such a public place.” He pulled his laptop out of his bag and settled on the bed next to Pete, making sure his leg was up against the other man. “Five hours, though. That’s plenty of time for Terri and Stiles to get here. We can plan something.”

Griff was giving his leg a pointed look. Lex gave him an apologetic shrug. Griff frowned but didn’t say anything else.

Sam rolled his eyes at both of them and made a point of sitting on the second bed. “Pete, get over here. Apparently, I can stabilize you or whatever. That way Griff doesn’t get upset about you being too near his boyfriend.”

Pete looked up as if he’d not really been paying attention. He moved to sit beside Sam, who put a companionable arm around him. Griff’s cheeks colored, but he still sat down beside Lex, who smiled and put an arm around his partner.

“You can’t type like that, Lex,” Griff said, his voice rough with embarrassment.

“I’ll type in a minute,” he said and hugged Griff back.

Griff leaned on him, and they sat there for a minute before Lex opened his laptop and picked up Pete’s phone. He tossed it to the man. “Unlock it for me and leave it unlocked, please.”

Pete did so and tossed it back. Lex found the contact listed as “Edward” and copied the phone number into one of his programs.

“A cell number. Not a surprise,” he said after a moment.

“You can get a name,” Griff said.

“Of course,” Lex said, already typing into another database. “As could you when you were still a G-man.”

Griff mock swatted him on the side of the head, and Lex gave him a grin in return. “You know that outside of movies and bad TV shows, no one calls us that, right?”

Lex’s grin didn’t slip. “Bet you’d enjoy it if I called you that in bed.”

“Guys!” Sam interjected. “Get a room.” He immediately added. “A different room.”

Lex chuckled and said, “Griff, you call Joshua. Get an ETA on Terri and Stiles. I need to know how much time I have to work on this.”

“On it.”

Lex bent over his work. He tried the easy reverse number lookup database first. Not surprisingly, the number wasn’t listed. So, he tried it in a couple of other databases. Still nothing.

“Joshua said they’ll be here in an hour,” Griff said. “Any luck?”

“Not yet,” Lex said, chewing his lip with his teeth. “Going to have to run my custom program. Don’t have to do that very often. This guy knows how to hide his tracks.”

“So, we can assume that meeting in the Costco parking lot isn’t nearly as straightforward as it sounds,” Griff said.

“That seems a safe bet, yes.”

“What does that mean?” Sam asked.

“That it’s a good thing we’ve got backup coming,” Griff said. “Joshua said they brought gear too, which is good.” He pulled his pistol out of his holster. “I’d rather have a bit more than just this.”

“Got it,” Lex said. “Or I have a name. Whether it’s a real name or not? I’ll have to do more looking. Oh, and it’s E-D-U-A-R-D, not with a W.”

“Pete,” Griff said. “Did Eduard sound like all of us?”

“No,” Pete said. “He did have a slight German accent, but his voice is deeper than ours.”

“All right,” Griff said. “So probably not one of the original cabal. Support staff?”

Lex didn’t look up from his typing. “Maybe. Well, here’s a bit of luck. Eduard Banks is not a common name.”

“That’s his last name?” Griff asked. “German first name and super common last name?”

Lex shrugged. “It’s what I’ve got. Don’t suppose you ever saw him, Pete?”

“Once, yeah.”

Lex’s head shot up. “Really? Awesome. Because I have a picture to show you.” He turned his laptop so Pete could see. The picture was of an ordinary looking guy, middle aged, with close-cropped blond hair and striking blue eyes.

“Could he be any more stereotypical Aryan if he tried?” Griff commented with a scowl.

“That’s him,” Pete confirmed.

Lex nodded happily. “Let me see what I can learn about our Mr. Banks.” He ran his information through several databases. Griff leaned against his shoulder and watched. While he generally didn’t like people looking over his shoulder while he worked, he made an exception for Griff.

After several minutes, Griff said, “I think I was right about support staff.”

Lex agreed. “Yeah. Lots of neo-Nazi stuff. Just enough of a record that he’d be taken seriously in the right circles but not so much that he’d be on any watch lists.”

Griff pointed at one entry. “But look at this. Seems to have an interest in cryogenic suspension.”

“Seriously?” Sam asked. “So, you think they’ve got him convinced he can live forever too? They offer him a transfer into one of us? Or…I guess you since they can’t transfer into me.”

“Seems reasonable,” Griff said. “Although based on some of the stuff he’s published…eww…now that’s just nasty.”

Lex was nodding, having seen the article title that had caught his partner’s attention. “We’d be doing the world a service by taking this guy out of it. A life sentence isn’t long enough for him.”

“How about associates?” Griff asked. “How many do we think we’ll be dealing with?”

Lex looked at Pete. “Any ideas, man?”

Pete shrugged. “Can’t say. Maybe three or so? That’s how many he had with him the one time I met him.” His right foot moved back and forth on the bed. Lex thought he’d start to go nuts if he spent too much time with this twin. Couldn’t he sit still for even a few minutes?

“Stiles and I can handle that, if we can get into position,” Griff said.

“But how are we going to do that if we don’t know where we’re meeting him until the last minute?” Lex asked.

“I’ll give that some thought,” Griff said. “Hopefully we’ll be better equipped. Pete? What kind of weaponry did he and his guys have?”

“Handguns.”

Griff nodded. “We can deal with that.”

Lex had an idea and did a quick hack. “Okay. I can cancel his cell service at will now. Which should stop him from calling in backup.”

“You won’t do that until we’re basically at the meet site?” Griff confirmed.

“Of course.”

“Anything else to plan until our backup gets here?”

Lex considered. “Not that I can think of.”

“Good,” Griff said, turning to Sam. “Any more questions? We’ve dumped a lot on you in a short period of time. Thank you for not running away the first chance you had.”

Sam shook his head. “No. I think I’ve got enough to go on for now.”

The four of them spent the next couple of hours involved either in research or their own thoughts.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the longest chapter in the story because it didn't break well. So have a 7K+ chapter.

Griff was just starting to wonder what was keeping Terri and Stiles when a knock came at the door. He was on his feet instantly, pistol in his hand, moving for the door. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Lex putting himself between the door and Sam and Pete, who were still sitting on the bed farthest from the door.

Just as he got to the door, he heard Stiles say, “It’s just us guys. So put away the gun, Griff.”

Griff smiled but didn’t put away his gun. He opened the door a crack, keeping the chain fastened.

“Seriously, dude,” Stiles huffed in obvious irritation. “I told you it was us.”

Terri stood behind him, a smile on her face.

“Had to be sure,” Griff said. “Someone could have had you at gunpoint, you know.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “We have codes for that, you know.”

Griff unfastened the chain and opened the door. “I know. But I still have to give you shit.”

“Yeah, yeah.” The two agents entered the room and both stopped suddenly.

“Wow,” Terri said. “ _Four_ of you.”

Lex grinned at them as he went back to his laptop. “Come with us when we go back to Jericho, and you can have all six of us.”

“And don’t say it!” Griff hastily added.

Stiles closed his mouth suddenly.

“Stiles and Terri. Pete and Sam.” Griff made hasty introductions.

“Good to meet you both,” Terri said as she came the rest of the way into the room. “So, what’s the plan?”

“That’s what we need to discuss,” Griff said. “According to Pete, his contact is expecting to take possession of me and Sam in about…” He checked his watch. “…three hours. In the Costco parking lot.”

That got an eyebrow raise from Stiles. “The Costco parking lot? That’s awfully public.”

“And you’re thinking you’ll get a call when you get there with the location of the real exchange site?” Terri asked.

“Probably,” Griff agreed.

“Huh.” Stiles had a contemplative look on his face. “Can’t exactly set up in advance. How do you want to play it?”

Before answering, Griff asked Pete, “Has Eduard seen Sam? Would he recognize a substitution?”

“Probably not,” Pete answered. “He’d recognize me, I guess. But you and Sam? Doubtful. He’s just going to be looking for two guys who look kind of like me.”

Griff nodded. “That’s what I was hoping for. So, here’s my suggestion. Pete drives to Costco with me and Lex, who will be the stand-in for Sam. If we’re wrong, and everything goes down right there, Terri, you and Stiles will be ready. Obviously, Lex and I will also be armed. You guys bring gear?”

Stiles nodded. “We’ve got weapons, tactical communications gear and vests in a van outside. Enough for you two, but not for the two extras.”

“That’s fine,” Griff said. “We can make that work. So, if we can, we round up everyone. But if you need to take down any of the muscles Eduard has with him, you do. We try to take Eduard alive, though. Hopefully he can point us in the direction of the rest of the cabal.”

“And Pete’s buffer,” Lex reminded him.

Stiles eyes cut between Lex and Pete. “You know who his is?”

Lex nodded. “They’ve got him as a way to keep Pete well-behaved.”

“All right then,” Stiles said with a nod. “Take down the muscle. Keep the jerk alive to lead us to the cabal and buffer. Got it.” He glanced over at Pete. “Griff, a word?”

Griff nodded and followed Stiles outside. While they were out there, they collected gear from the van. Griff was happy to see his personal vest was among them.

“Pete? You and Lex are both okay with him being a part of this?” Stiles asked.

“Not really, but Lex thinks we can trust him enough. I intend to keep a gun on him the entire time.”

“All right. I don’t like it, though.”

“Neither do I. But I think it’s our only play. We need three of us in the car, and I don’t want to put Sam in danger. Even if we could make up Lex to look like Pete.”

Stiles snorted. “He’s got the sideburns. But Terri didn’t bring her disguise kit, and the kid can’t grow even that scraggly a beard in a couple of hours.”

“My thinking exactly.” Griff rummaged through the weapons and pulled out a shotgun. Stiles took a rifle.

“All right. We’ll make it work. We usually do.”

They carried gear back into the motel room. Lex glanced up from his computer as they walked in. “I got you and Terri another room. If one of you goes to the front desk, you can check in and get a key.”

“Making any assumptions there, Lex?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah,” Lex answered evenly. “That it’s getting super crowded in here.”

“Technically, you’re supposed to get us separate rooms.” Terri pointed out.

Lex shrugged and typed for a moment. “All right. Two rooms. I won’t check if you’re using both of them or not.”

Terri barked out a short laugh, and Stiles grinned.

Right. They were definitely in the “on” phase of their relationship.

Terri was going through her equipment, and Stiles and Griff looked over Lex’s shoulder as he pulled up a Google Maps street view of the Costco parking lot. Stiles pointed to two locations that gave him and Terri a good view. “We can start here and here.” He pointed to a second and then third locations. “And we can move here or here, depending on where, exactly, they park their car.”

“Can you get to your van fast enough to follow us?” Griff asked.

Terri tossed a small electronic device on the bed near Griff. “No need. Plant this in your car, and we’ll be able to follow you at a safe distance.”

“Good,” Griff said, with a nod.

They worked through some alternative plans, in case things changed, but finally, everyone was confident of their role.

Pete was told he was to drive and nothing else.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” Griff said. “But I don’t really trust you. I’ll be in the back seat, and I’ll have a gun on you the entire time.”

“Eduard will expect me to be armed,” Pete pointed out.

Griff picked up a spare pistol, slapped in an empty magazine, confirmed that the chamber was empty and handed it over to Pete. “Here. You’ll look the part but won’t be able to get in any trouble.”

“What about the car we’re driving?” Lex asked. “I’d rather not go back to Pete’s house, just in case someone is watching it. Can we get away with the rental we have?”

“I think we can,” Griff said. “If Eduard or any of his men ask, he can just say he rented a car under a fake name so nothing could be traced to him.”

“Works for me,” Lex said, before going back to his computer.

About an hour before the proposed meeting time, Stiles and Terri left to get in position. Lex, Griff and Pete followed later, leaving Sam behind. Sam had grumbled about having nothing to do, and Lex had hooked him up with Netflix on his laptop.

Pete drove, but Griff said, “I’ll have my gun on you the entire time.”

“I know,” Pete said as Lex handed him the keys and he started the car. “I really don’t want to betray you. All I want right now is to get to my buffer. He seems really nice. Said he and his friend were starting a company, and he might be able to get me a position. That sounds good.”

Griff was inclined to believe him. “How were we supposed to be? Tied up? What?”

“Drugged and tied up,” Pete said, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel as he drove.

“All right. Lex, slump down with your hands behind you. I’ll sprawl out back here.”

Lex immediately slumped down in an excellent imitation of a drugged stupor. Griff knew all too well what it was like to be drugged, and he had no difficulty in feigning unconsciousness. He kept his gun just under the line of the seat but still pointed at Pete’s back. Although he believed him, he didn’t want to take any chances.

As Pete drove, Griff contacted Stiles. “Anything?”

“Not yet,” came the answer over the coms.

“All right. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Roger. We’ll be watching for you.”

Griff lay back, trying to get vaguely comfortable while looking unconscious and holding the gun on Pete. It wasn’t easy and he couldn’t quite manage comfortable and had to settle for “not rolling off the seat.”

They got to the Costco and pulled into the parking lot. Pete drove to the area they had previously agreed upon. Stiles and Terri were perfectly positioned to cover them. Which was good.

“Terri,” Griff said. “We’re pretending to be unconscious which means we can’t see shit. Need you and Stiles to keep watch for us.”

“On it,” Terri’s reassuring voice came back.

They waited for several minutes before Pete’s phone rang.

“Go ahead and answer, but remember I’m here, with my gun,” Griff said.

“I remember.”

Griff heard Pete fumble for his phone. “Hello, Eduard.”

Griff wished he could hear both sides of the conversation, but he knew having the phone on speaker would be suspicious.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Pete was saying. “Where are you?”

“Oh, okay. Warehouse on 14th. Look for the white Econoline. I can do that.”

A pause.

“Yeah, they’re drugged and cuffed like you said.” Another pause. “I gave ‘em Ativan.” A nervous laugh. “I know my pharmaceuticals, as you know. They’ll be out for at least another couple of hours.”

Griff could almost hear Eduard’s response, which was frustrating.

“Yeah. I’ll be there. Twenty minutes? Sure. I can make that.”

As soon as Pete disconnected, Griff contacted Stiles. “As we suspected. Second location.” He gave the details. “Yeah, it’s not a lot of time but see if you can get over there quickly enough to cover us.”

“On it,” Stiles said, his tone reassuringly professional.

“Okay,” Griff said. “Stiles and Terri will get over there as quickly as possible. Pete, don’t get there early. Take the full twenty minutes to give them as much time as possible.”

“Okay.” His voice sounded strained.

“You okay?” Lex asked

“I don’t feel so good right now.”

“Not good as in?” Lex prompted.

“Like my anxieties are real bad. My stomach hurts. I feel like I’m going to throw up. And like I might start shaking any minute.”

It was unworthy of him, but Griff briefly wondered how him starting to shake would be significantly different from his normal behavior. He shook off the thoughts as he heard Lex adjust his position and assumed he was moving to touch Pete. “I got you, man,” Lex said.

“Can you drive, Pete?” Griff asked.

“I think so?”

“Okay. Start the car and get on the road. As soon as we’re out of the parking lot, Lex, hold his hand. That always works well enough for me.”

“Will do,” Lex said. “Hang in there, Pete. We’ll get through this and then you can meet up with your buffer, and you’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Thanks.” His voice sounded a little stronger but still pretty weak.

As soon as they were out of the parking lot and driving at road speed, Griff sat up, glancing around as he did so. It was late enough that there were few cars on the road, and they were alone for the moment. Lex sat up and took Pete’s hand, holding it in both of his.

“You’re fine, Pete. You got this,” Lex said.

“How far away are these warehouses?” Griff asked.

“Couple of miles,” Pete said.

Griff had just the right angle to notice him taking quick, shallow breaths. This would be a very bad time for him to snap. “Okay. Take it slow. Stiles and Terri’ll back us up. This will work.”

“All right.”

Lex glanced at him, and Griff could see him just well enough to see the worry in his eyes. He gave his partner a reassuring nod. Lex returned the gesture with a smile. They could make this work. For everyone’s sake, they had to. Griff wasn’t about to lose one of his twins.

Pete drove the speed limit but no more. He also took a circuitous route, assuring them all that he wasn’t playing games. He was just taking his time, like Griff had told him too.

“You’re doing great,” Lex assured him.

“We’re in position,” Stiles finally said in Griff’s ear. The words were like a balm to Griff’s nerves.

“Great. We’re almost there.” Griff had been watching street signs and they were currently passing 12th Street.

“The van is there. Terri and I are in position to see it and cover you all. Two guys in the front seat, and I think there’s at least one in the back. Guy in the driver’s seat has turned around a couple of times like he’s talking to someone.”

“Roger,” Griff said. Two bad guys for certain. One probable. Who knew how many others?

Pete pulled into the group of warehouses, and both Lex and Griff resumed their feigned unconsciousness. The car slowly rolled to a stop.

“We see you,” Stiles said.

“Go ahead and get out,” Griff said. “Stiles has you covered.” Griff knew Stiles’ ability with a rifle. He wasn’t quite a trained sniper, but he was good enough at the range they were dealing with.

Pete opened his door and got out.

“Keep me posted,” Griff said. “Lex and I are still pretending to be unconscious.”

“Roger,” Terri said. “Pete’s out of the car. The van doors are opening. Two people are getting out. One of them is Eduard.”

So, he was here in person. Excellent.

He could hear Pete’s voice, but he couldn’t make out what was being said. “Can you hear them, Lex?”

“No,” came the quiet response.

“Can’t read lips like Joshua can,” Terri said. “But I think Pete is explaining that he’s got both of you in the car. Hang on. The side door of the van is opening. Two guys are getting out. Both have rifles.”

“Does it look like they are going to shoot Pete?” Griff asked.

He heard Lex shift in the front seat. Probably getting into position to dive out of the car, if necessary. Griff did the same.

“I don’t think so. They are moving toward Pete’s car.”

“What do you want us to do?” Stiles asked, his tone relaxed but serious.

Griff considered. Two men with rifles. Two others almost certainly with handguns. Pete exposed. He and Lex had vests but were not in a position to move quickly or easily. “Are the two with rifles ready to shoot?”

“Negative,” came the instant response. “Rifles are held loosely but can be in firing position in seconds.”

“Step out and let them know they are covered,” Griff said. “Lex, can you be ready to open your door and get out of the car?”

“Yes.” He heard his partner shift position again. Griff crouched low, hopefully below the sight line of the four men outside. He moved until his hand was on the passenger side door.

He heard Stiles’ loud voice saying, “FBI. Drop your weapons.”

Even under the tense conditions, Griff smiled quickly. FBI was far more menacing than CIA.

He heard people moving outside.

“Freeze. I said drop your weapons,” Stiles repeated.

Griff and Lex both opened their doors and dove out of the car. Griff stood up just enough to see over the car door. The two men with rifles were ignoring Stiles’ instructions and were raising their weapons. Griff didn’t hesitate. He shot one of them. Center mass. He went down. A rifle sounded from the direction he’d heard Stiles speaking from, and the second man dropped.

Eduard was diving for the van, while the other man was struggling to get his gun out of his holster. _Idiot_. The thought raced through Griff’s mind as he shot the man. A rifle fired at the same time. Both of them hit.

“Freeze!” Lex said, standing up with the car door between him and Eduard. Griff wanted to yell at him to get down, but it was the right move. Eduard was not visibly armed.

Eduard continued to race for the van. A rifle shot rang out, and the man went down, clutching his knee.

“Any other bad guys?” Griff yelled into his mic.

“Negative,” came Terri’s calm response.

Still staying low, just in case, Griff ran for Eduard, who was struggling to turn over. Griff caught the glint of metal and kicked a gun out of his hand. “Freeze or I’ll shoot.”

Eduard finally froze.

Lex dashed up at that moment, grabbed Eduard’s phone out of his shirt pocket, practically shoved it into the guy’s face to unlock it and then stepped back to do “Lex stuff” to it.

“That works to unlock it?” Griff asked.

“Yeah,” Lex said, sounding distracted. “That’s why I told you to use a passcode instead. You can’t be legally compelled to give up a passcode, but your face or fingerprint? No legal protections.” As he spoke, he held it up to Eduard’s face again. This time the man tried to close his eyes, but Lex moved too fast. “Got it.”

“What was that for?” Griff asked as he cuffed the man.

“It’s his password manager. Once I get back to my computer, I can use it to see what files he has. Maybe he has access to something useful.”

Eduard started struggling when Lex said that.

“I think that answers it,” Griff said.

“Sounds like it.”

Once Eduard was restrained, Griff looked for Pete, who was crouched down next to the rental car. “You okay?”

He nodded. “What about my buffer? Where is he?”

Eduard stopped struggling and started laughing. Griff’s attention snapped back to him. “What?”

“Look at the photos app on the phone your friend has so confidently appropriated.”

Griff looked to Lex, who was frowning and swiping. A moment later, his face went pale in the harsh sodium lights. “Oh shit. No!”

“What?” Pete yelled, not even taking the time to stand up, just moving to Lex’s side in a sort of desperate crouching shuffle.

Lex held the phone against his chest. “No, Pete. You don’t want to see it.”

“Why not?”

“It looks like your buffer is dead. I’m sorry.” Lex glared daggers at Eduard.

“Why?” Pete asked, his voice sounding broken and plaintive. “What did Robbie do to you?”

“He was useless to us,” Eduard said with a sneer on his face. “You’re too broken to be used. I was going to use you to bring these to me.” He motioned to Griff and Lex with his chin. “Then I was going to kill you too. There was no reason to keep him alive if you were dead.”

Pete huddled on the ground, knees against his chest, hands clasped around them. Lex handed the phone to Griff and went over to sit down beside him, arms around their grieving twin.

Before Griff could look at the picture, Stiles and Terri walked over. “Looks clear,” Stiles said.

Terri was looking at Pete and Lex. “What happened?”

“Eduard killed his buffer,” Griff said, still trying to come to grips with that meant for Pete. No buffer? A slow slide into insanity? How could they help him and prevent that from happening?

Terri’s mouth made a little O of surprise. Stiles just looked grim and sent a hard look at Eduard. The man wilted a bit under that gaze.

“What do you want to do with him?” Stiles asked.

“Call the authorities, I guess,” Griff said. “I think we have enough to make charges stick.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Terri knelt by Griff and gave him a hug. He was grateful. He knew Pete needed Lex more right now, but the whole thing was making him feel emotionally fragile.

Lex looked up, caught his eye and smiled. Griff felt a bit better.

“You want to take Pete home?” Terri asked. “Stiles and I can stay here and wait for the police to pick up Eduard.”

“You sure?”

“Not the first time, Griff. And there’s no reason to keep Pete here in a dank parking lot.”

Griff stood up. “Thanks, then. You with me, Lex?”

His partner nodded, and coaxed Pete to his feet. The man looked bereft and lost. Arm still around him and speaking softly to him, Lex guided him to the car and helped him into the back seat. Griff followed, moving to the driver’s seat, assuming Lex would stay in the back with Pete.

Lex didn’t get in right away and came to him, giving Griff a quick hug. “I know this has you messed up too.”

Griff hugged him back. “Yeah. But Pete needs you more right now.”

“I agree. I don’t know what we can do for him.”

“Maybe Dean will have an idea?”

“We can hope,” Lex said, giving him one more hug before climbing in beside Pete.

Griff got in and started the car for the drive to Pete’s house. How different from just a few hours earlier where Pete had been the villain.

***

Lex held Pete all the way to his house. He couldn’t imagine what the man must be feeling. Obviously, he knew enough about all this to understand what losing his buffer meant. Lex had no idea what to do and hoped Griff was right. He intended to call Dean first thing in the morning for ideas. They’d probably need to take Pete with them back to Jericho. At least with Sam, they had two buffers to keep him stable.

Griff got them back to Pete’s house, and they all got out of the car. Pete fumbled his keys so badly that he couldn’t unlock the door, and Griff quietly took over for him. Lex guided him upstairs and got him settled in bed, undressed and as comfortable as he could make him. “Gonna go downstairs, Pete. You have anything to drink? I can make you something stiff to help you sleep.”

“In the kitchen. Left cupboard by the sink. Thanks.” Lex had to strain to hear him.

“You’re welcome. Be right back.”

“Okay.”

He started for the door.

“Lex?”

He turned. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry I kidnapped Griff. I see how much he means to you.” Pete’s voice was low and sounded sincere, but lost. For the first time since he’d met the man, Pete was completely still, looking small in the middle of the bed.

Lex smiled at him. “I forgive you. Seems like you didn’t have much of a choice.”

“I always have a choice,” Pete said, an odd finality in his voice. It sent an odd chill through Lex and he decided they’d better stay with him tonight.

“True, but you had mostly bad ones. It’s fine. We’ll figure something out. Dean will probably have ideas.”

“Okay. I’m glad I got to know you all.”

“Same, Pete. Now I’ll go get you that drink.”

Lex hurried down the stairs. Griff was standing in the living room, staring out the window, looking as if he wasn’t sure what to do. This had affected his partner almost as much as it had Pete. While he knew he needed to get back to the man upstairs, Griff looked so lost, and Lex realized he hadn’t held him properly since he’d been captured. He walked over and put his arms around his partner. “Hey, Griff. Love you.”

Griff gave a little hitching sob, turned and buried his face in Lex’s neck.

Lex ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, Griff. I got you. Thought I might lose you when you got captured earlier. Been wanting to hold you ever since.”

“Same,” came the quiet reply.

“I’m here, you know,” Lex said, knowing what Griff must be thinking about. “Not going anywhere.”

Griff didn’t say anything, just held on. Lex felt his heartbeat against his chest and savored the moment.

Finally, he said, “I think we need to stay here tonight. I don’t think Pete should be alone. Maybe I can call Terri to bring us our stuff?”

“We can do that,” Griff said. “I agree. He’s had a shock.”

Lex gave him a hard squeeze and pulled away. “I was going to get him a drink to help him sleep. Can you call her while I do that?”

Griff squeezed back and said, “Yes. I can do that.”

The shot rang out from upstairs.

Lex’s mind froze for a second, but his body moved on its own, starting up the stairs. Griff drew his gun and pushed past him, leading the way. Lex knew he was right to be cautious, but he also knew what had happened and that guns wouldn’t change anything.

He followed Griff into Pete’s bedroom and saw blood all over the wall opposite the door. Exactly what he had expected. Griff lowered his weapon and just stood there, staring.

Lex had to close his eyes for a moment. The sight took him back to when he’d shot the assassin to protect Griff in the hospital. His stomach rolled, and he thought he’d be sick.

As he stood there, swallowing hard, trying to master his nausea, he heard the hard, metallic thump of Griff’s gun hitting the floor, followed by the softer thump of his partner’s…knees?

He opened his eyes to see Griff huddled on the floor. Shit! If Griff was badly enough in shock to drop his gun? He took several deep breaths, like he’d been working on with his therapist and shook himself out of his memories. The need to help his partner was strong enough to help him overcome his own panic attack.

Lex picked up the gun, checked the safety was on and shoved it into the waistband of his jeans. He couldn’t stop the flashback to Joshua telling him about Griff wanting to shoot himself after Lex had been shot. He planned to hold on to the gun until he was sure Griff was all right.

Kneeling down, he took Griff’s arm and helped him to his feet. “Come on. Griff. Let’s get to the car. I’ll get Terri to call the authorities.” His voice broke, and he took another deep breath to get out, “We can’t help Pete now.”

Griff shook so hard his teeth rattled.

“I know. I got you. Come on. Let’s get out of here.” He wanted to get away from the sight and smell of blood too before his own panic took over.

Griff moved as Lex directed, and they left the house. Lex took several more deep breaths of cool night air, finally clearing the copper stink from his nostrils. He felt his heart rate slow to something closer to normal.

He put Griff in the passenger seat and hurried to the driver’s side. Once he was in the car, he took out his phone to call Terri.

“Lex?”

“Terri. Two things. First, can you call the authorities? Pete…shot himself.”

“What?”

Lex heard Stiles ask, “What happened?” in the background.

“I’m pretty sure he knew what was coming and decided dying was better than…that.” He didn’t want to get too graphic in front of Griff, who was sitting in the passenger seat, staring blankly out the window.

“Oh, Lex. I’m sorry. I’ll call it in and let Joshua know. How’s Griff taking it?”

“Not well. He’s in shock. Which leads to my second request. Can you either get Sam his own room or let him stay with you guys? I need to take care of Griff.”

“Of course. But you already got us a second room, so we’re covered."

Oh yeah, he had done that. With everything that had just happened, he’d forgotten.

“Is there anything else we can do to help?” Terri added.

“I don’t think so. I know what to do. I just need to get back there and have the quiet to do it.”

“How about you?” Terri asked. “I can hear in your voice that you’re not completely okay.”

“I did flash back to the assassin, but…” He took another deep breath. “I’m managing it for now.”

“If you need anything at all. No matter how late.”

“Thanks, Terri. I appreciate that.” He’d had a huge crush on her until he met Griff, but even now, he still loved her in his own way and was grateful to have her for a friend.

He drove to the motel, holding Griff’s hand the entire way. It was cold in his, and he just wanted to get his partner into bed and warm under a pile of blankets. He murmured meaningless reassurances during the trip, doubting that Griff was really hearing the words but hoping the tone would be soothing.

When he arrived at the motel, he guided Griff into the room, which was empty. Lex undressed Griff and got him under the blankets. He grabbed the coverlet from the second bed and lay it on top of him too. Then he stripped down, put Griff’s gun in his laptop bag and crawled into bed, settling up against Griff’s back. His partner was curled into a tight ball, and Lex held him close. Remembering the bunny, he found where it had fallen off the bed, and he brought it back with him, holding it against Griff’s chest and snuggling both of them.

“Griff, it’s okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

Griff just shivered.

Lex kissed the back of his neck. “I know how much this upsets you. I know you’re seeing yourself in Pete. But I’m fine. I’m here. You’re fine.”

“But if something happens to you?”

Lex was glad to hear him talking, even just a little. He thought hard about what he wanted to say. Finally, he decided on, “If something happens to me, you do what you need to do. But.” He punctuated the word with a tight squeeze. “But you make damn sure I’m really gone. As in you saw the body level of sure.”

Griff gave a small whimper. “But you’ll be in pain.”

Lex kissed him again. “I know. And that pain will tell me you’re still alive. When the pain stops, I’ll know you’re dead. I’m going to be embracing that pain like it’s you beside me. Pain I can endure. Knowing you’re dead? That will be a lot harder. You hear me?”

“I hear you.”

“Good. Now, you go to sleep, Griff. I’ll be here when you wake up. I promise. Everything will look better in the morning.”

Griff’s hand moved to hold the bunny and Lex’s hand. Lex smiled to himself. That was always a good sign. Yeah, this was rough on both of them, but they’d get through it.

Griff’s breathing smoothed into sleep. Lex was tired, but he knew he couldn’t sleep yet. When he closed his eyes, he saw the assassin’s chest explode in blood. As soon as they got back to D.C., he’d need to make an appointment with his therapist. He could make it through for Griff, Sam and Bill, but the sight of Pete’s exploded head and all the blood had triggered him badly.

He would deal with it, however because he knew how much worse this was for his partner.

As soon as he was certain Griff was soundly asleep and would stay that way for a while, he carefully slid out of bed and tossed on a shirt. Then he got his laptop out of his bag and sat on the end of the bed. If he couldn’t sleep, he might as well work. Eduard’s phone was in his jacket pocket, and he got it to start scrolling through the sites in his password locker.

Most of them were the usual sites: Amazon, Netflix, Victoria’s Secret—he chuckled silently at that one—a couple of banks, Dropbox. He logged in to that one on his laptop, using the login credentials from the phone. He was amused to see Eduard had set up two-factor authentication. “Doesn’t work so well, asshole, when I have your damn phone,” he muttered, quietly so as not to wake Griff.

There was nothing there of interest, and he moved on to other sites.

Finally, he hit something that looked interesting. A digital locker he’d heard about but not used himself. It was, however, frequently used by criminals. The two-factor authentication used an app, but the app was on the phone, and Lex had no problems accessing the site.

Ah! This was what he had been looking for. He started downloading files, after checking them for malware. They were clean, and he knew he’d hit pay dirt. One file had information about the Midwestern cell of the conspiracy. He sent that one to Joshua with a note to forward it to the FBI contacts they’d coordinated with when taking down the original cell. He figured with the information in the file, they could handle it on their own. Lex was more concerned with what to do about Bill.

He looked further and almost cheered when he found a file detailing the various buffer/vessel combinations. He’d known such a file had to exist, and when he learned that Pete had been working with Eduard to round up Sam, he’d hoped maybe Eduard had access to a list.

Scanning down the list, he recognized some names. Himself and Griff, of course. Pete and Robbie Garcia. He took a moment to memorize the name of the first of their weird family they’d lost. A Roger and a James. Jed and Lloyd. They’d need to find them too eventually. And there! Bill and Sam. So, they were a pair. Yes! All they needed to do was get Bill and Sam together.

There were a few other names, none of which he recognized. Oddly, some of them were first names only, which would make things more difficult, but he could manage something since at least they all had similar faces.

Griff shifted in his sleep, and Lex turned to look at him. He was frowning, and his eyes were moving rapidly under his lids, a sure sign he was in the middle of a nightmare. Not a surprise, considering what had happened. Lex closed his laptop and crawled back next to his partner. He’d been expecting this, and it was the other reason he hadn’t tried to sleep yet.

He’d left Griff’s t-shirt on, which was perfect for what he wanted. Lex lightly ran a fingernail around one nipple and sucked a light hickey on his neck. Griff let out a soft moan.

“Lex?”

“Got you, babe.” He moved to the other nipple and kissed the back of Griff’s neck.

Griff sighed appreciatively and moved closer, pressing his ass back against Lex’s cock, which hardened. “That’s it, Griff,” he said encouragingly.

Griff rolled on his back, and Lex climbed on top of him, continuing to use fingernails to stroke his sides and around both nipples. Griff shuddered and hardened against him. He raised his head to kiss Lex, who sighed into his lover’s mouth. Griff could kiss. Better than anyone he’d ever been with. He lost himself in the kiss and almost lost his rhythm, but Griff’s little moan of disappointment reminded him.

It wasn’t long before Lex really wanted Griff inside him. He had surprised himself by how much he enjoyed being a bottom. Sure, he’d experimented in college, but then he’d switched to just dating women, and, by the time he met Griff, it had been many years since he’d been with a guy. He’d half expected he’d lost his taste for it. But the first time they’d had actual sex, it had seemed easier to have Griff top, and Lex had been lost the first time he’d had _that_ inside him.

Lex broke the kiss and leaned over the side of the bed, hunting for the lube in their suitcase. Griff made another little disappointed sound. “I’ll be back,” Lex said, amused. He found the tube and sat up on the bed. He loved Griff prepping him, but he also knew Griff found it very arousing to watch Lex do it, so he leaned back, popped open the top and thoroughly slicked up a finger.

Griff made an appreciative sound and slid up the bed to lean against the headboard and watch. Suddenly he frowned and felt behind him. “Who makes a headboard with stuff that sticks out?”

“Use a pillow?” Lex suggested as he slowly inserted a finger into himself.

Griff grabbed a pillow, stuck it behind him and settled back to watch. A moment later, he slid out of his boxers, and Lex suddenly wanted Griff inside him _right then_.

He definitely wasn’t in the mood to drag it out, but he also knew watching him would distract his partner, so he made as much of a show of it as he could, slowly opening himself up with one, then two and finally three fingers. He stroked his own prostate, groaning his appreciation of the stimulation but also telling his fiancé how much he wanted to feel Griff inside him. Griff wasn’t really into dirty talk, but Lex was and tried to sneak in some every so often.

Finally, he thought he was ready and he pulled his fingers out and squeezed more lube in his hand, sliding forward to slick up Griff’s cock. His lover started to move, and Lex shook his head. “Nope.” He pulled Griff until he was lying flat, cock twitching above his stomach.

“Oh,” Griff said as Lex lowered himself on top of Griff.

“Bottoming on top,” Lex said with a smile.

Griff groaned and fisted his hands in the sheets. “Fuck, Lex, that’s good.”

“Fucking was the general idea, yes.” He adjusted his position so he could get the leverage he needed and started moving up and down, angling so each thrust brushed his prostate. Griff was large, and Lex loved the feeling of being almost too full.

He leaned down and kissed Griff, who snaked a hand between them and gripped Lex’s cock. “Yeah, just like that,” he said, panting out the words.

They found a rhythm that worked for both of them, and Lex thrilled at each sound he managed to wring from Griff. His partner was usually quiet during sex, and he made it a challenge to get him to vocalize at least a little. Lex liked to be loud, but he kept it down in deference to Terri and Stiles in the next room.

“When this is over, I’m renting us that cabin at Douthat,” Lex said. “And I am going to completely let go.”

Griff groaned at that. “Yeah. Lex, gonna…”

“Yeah. Go ahead. Come for me, Griff.”

Griff spasmed upward, and Lex felt him spurt inside him. He loved that feeling, and it was enough to push him over the edge too.

He stayed on top of Griff as long as he could, shifting to lie on his chest and listen to his heartbeat slow its restless pace. He didn’t want the moment to end. However, Griff softened enough that he slid out, and Lex got up to get a damp washcloth to clean them both up. Then he settled back on Griff’s chest, tangling their legs together.

“Better?” he asked.

Griff stroked a finger down one of his sideburns, and Lex leaned into the gentle pressure. “A little, yeah. Sorry for the freak out.”

Lex shrugged against him. “Understandable.” The memory of Pete returned, and he couldn’t stop the shudder.

“Shit! Lex. It brought back memories for you too didn’t it?” A pause. “And I bet you haven’t slept yet, have you?”

He knew there was no point in lying. Griff was obviously reading him right now. “No. Every time I tried to close my eyes, I saw…” He couldn’t say it, but he knew he didn’t have to. Griff understood, having helped him through many a nightmare.

“Here, shift a bit for me.” Griff sat up and guided Lex so his head was in Griff’s lap. Strong fingers started massaging his temples, starting over the sideburns and then moving up and inward.

Lex let out a soft groan of pleasure. Griff had done something like that when they’d been in the safe house and he’d washed Lex’s hair. “That feels almost as good as the sex. How did I forget you could do that? And where did you learn it anyway?”

Griff didn’t answer right away, and Lex had the feeling he’d evoked a memory.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”

Griff’s fingers never stopped, but he said, “No, it’s fine. I…uh…well you know about my brother, right?”

Lex started to frown, but as soon as he did, Griff’s fingers smoothed it away. “Yeah. I saw your file.”

“He got terrible headaches as a kid. When we were young, before he got really violent, we were close. It killed me to see him in that much pain. Hardly any painkillers helped. One day he was crying so hard, and I didn’t know what to do. I sort of followed my instincts and pulled him into my lap, like I have you now. I started massaging his temples, like this.” Griff’s fingers moved from his temples to rub and stroke deep into his hair. Lex felt himself relaxing. His eyes closed, and, blissfully, he didn’t see either Pete or the assassin he’d killed.

“It helped. My mom couldn’t believe it, and she asked me to do it whenever he was in pain.” Griff paused his story but not the massage. Somehow his fingers moved unerringly to wherever Lex needed them. “Guess it was my psychic ability manifesting. Not that I would have known that.” Lex felt him shrug. “Thought it might help you too, even though you didn’t have a headache.”

Griff’s voice was flat, and Lex recognized it as Griff’s tell that he was hurting but didn’t want to admit to it. He wanted to say something to ease his partner’s pain at remembering his brother. He’d not known there had been so much love between them once. It must make the horror of hallucinating him even worse. Since he didn’t know what to say, all he said was, “It’s helping. You have no idea. Thank you.”

Griff massaged his head a little longer before stopping to move down the bed, holding Lex on his chest again. Lex closed his eyes. Visions of blood threatened, but he focused on his partner’s steady heartbeat, and he was able to push back the unwanted visions.

Between the good sex and the massage, he was finally able to relax and slide toward sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think many of you had guessed what was coming, but when you all got excited about Pete in the moodboard, I sort of went "Oh Shit!"
> 
> Trust me. I didn't do that lightly. There's potentially grim implications to what started out as a weird but fun one shot idea. Now that this Verse is up to 7 main stories, I thought I needed to do it right. This is probably the most important chapter in the story because it sets up so much for the next two. 
> 
> But it had Lex and Griff being awesome and soft too, right?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's safe, I promise. Got the hardest part of this story out in the last chapter. A few slightly unpleasant realizations and the rest is mostly boys being cute. And Lex being awesome at hacking. And maybe getting yelled at by Joshua.

Griff awoke to a soft knock at the door. Lex was on his side, facing away from him, but somehow their legs were still tangled together. From the rhythm of his breathing, Griff knew he was still asleep.

“It’s me. Terri,” came a gentle voice at the door.

Griff carefully extricated himself from Lex, checked the time on the motel room’s clock—just after 9 am—and went to the door, after finding where Lex had put his jeans last night. Opening it a crack, he saw Terri standing there. He went outside, holding the door open a bit with his foot.

“Hey,” he said, wondering how badly he looked, suspecting his hair was going every way possible.

“Hey yourself. Lex still asleep?”

“Yeah. I don’t think he crashed until well after midnight. Uh. Flashbacks to when he shot that guy.”

Terri nodded. “He said as much when he and I talked last night. You doing any better?”

Embarrassment washed over him. “Yeah. I guess I was a mess last night?”

Terri reached out to give him a hug, being careful not to pull him forward and lose the impromptu door stop. “It’s fine. Remember, I’ve been around for all of this. I know what this is like for you, even if only as an observer.”

He hugged her back, grateful for her warmth. “Yeah. I know. But I keep thinking I should be past it by now.”

They each pulled back, and Terri smiled at him. “Not when the situation keeps throwing new curveballs at you both.”

He tried to smile back and was surprised when the expression felt almost natural to him. “Good point.”

“Anyway, I wanted to make sure you two were awake in time to get breakfast. It’s not great, but it’s hot and free.”

“Both are good.”

“And we’ve talked to Joshua this morning, and we can fill you in, if you’d like.”

Griff nodded. “Definitely. Let me see if I can get Lex moving soon enough to get food.”

She grinned. “Tell him the coffee is actually pretty good.”

He grinned back. “That might work.”

“See you in a bit, then?”

“Yeah.”

She went back to her room, and Griff went back inside. Lex was still crashed in the rumpled sheets. The room smelled of sex, and Griff felt vaguely bad for the housekeeping staff. Surely they were used to it?

He sat on the bed beside Lex and kissed his nose. He loved the little bump he had. Griff had the same one, but he hated looking at it on himself. On Lex, however, it was cute.

“Murph,” came the unintelligible response from the hacker. A moment later, he asked, “What time is it?”

“A little after nine. Terri just stopped by to tell us that the food goes away at ten. She says it’s not great but that the coffee is pretty good.”

That got Lex to crack open one eye. “You say the sweetest things, Griff. Maybe I’ll keep you.”

Griff knew he meant it as a jest, but he couldn’t help his expression from slipping.

Lex sat up. “Shit. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know.”

Lex lunged forward to pull him into a hug. “You proposed. I said yes. ‘Nuff said.”

Griff couldn’t help but smile at the memory of that proposal. “It wasn’t really a proper one.”

Lex shrugged against him. “Like we’re proper in any real sense?”

“Good point. So, food?”

“We still have a little while, right? I need a shower. _Someone_ got me sticky last night.”

“Actually, I think you were the one who got me sticky,” Griff retorted.

Lex snorted. “Semantics. I didn’t hear you complaining.”

Griff felt his cheeks redden. “Uh, no. That ‘bottom on top’ thing?”

Lex laughed as he stood up and stripped out of his boxers and t-shirt. “Liked that, did you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. We can do that again sometimes.”

“Good.”

Lex started for the bathroom before looking back over his shoulder. “Coming with me? I’m not the only one who’s sticky.”

Griff pulled off his jeans. “We do need to get there in time for food.”

“So, we’ll just shower.”

Which was basically what they did. Although there might have been a few kisses, with enough heat to make Griff wish they had more time. Both of them were half-hard by the time they finished the shower, but they still had enough time to get dressed and make it to the breakfast area with fifteen minutes to spare.

Stiles, Sam and Terri were all sitting at a table, empty plates in front of them. Stiles glanced up, winked and made a rude gesture with one hand, raising an eyebrow in question.

Griff motioned between Stile and Terri, raising his own eyebrow in turn.

Stiles laughed and tipped an imaginary hat to him.

Lex had missed all of that, focused as he was on the coffee pot, which looked full and was steaming. Sam, however, had caught it and grinned at both of them. Terri rolled her eyes, but a smile crinkled the corner of one mouth.

Griff filled a plate and got his own cup of coffee. Then he made another plate for Lex, who had bypassed the food and sat down with his steaming cup in his hands. “One of these days I’m going to convince you that you need actual food and can’t live on caffeine alone.”

Lex took the plate, gulped down half of his coffee and shrugged. “You can try.”

Griff pointed to the plate. “Eat at least half of that before you get more coffee.”

Terri and Stiles’ eyes both widened as Lex put down his cup and started eating.

“What?” he said around a mouthful of egg. “I do eat.”

Terri shook her head. “Not usually with so little fuss.”

Lex shrugged. “Griff comes with fringe benefits, and I don’t want to lose those.”

Sam choked out something suspiciously like a laugh.

Griff felt his face heat up again. He was getting tired of that. “So, you said you talked to Joshua, Terri?”

Stiles winked at him, letting him know he recognized it for the diversion it was.

Terri’s lips quirked in a half smile, but she answered. “Yes. He said thank you, Lex, for the information you sent. He says Quinn is coordinating a joint task force with the FBI.”

Lex grimaced. “What’s Quinn done to Gage lately to get stuck with that duty?”

Terri shook her head. “Joshua didn’t say, and I didn’t ask. But he says they can take it from here, and we don’t need to be a part of that.”

Griff nodded and glanced at Sam. “So all that’s left is getting you and Bill together, I guess?”

Sam’s expression sobered. “I guess. Uh. I think I have a few more questions?”

“Sure,” Griff said. “You need to be as comfortable as you can be going into this.” He couldn’t help the small shiver of fear that went through him at the thought that Sam might refuse to help Bill. It was certainly reasonable, but, after Pete, Griff was feeling especially protective and fearful for his fellow vessel.

“I’m not sure comfortable is ever going to be a part of this,” Sam said.

“Okay, fair. What do you want to know?”

“You and Lex can’t be very far apart, right?”

“Correct,” Lex answered. “Dean says that will change and that we might be able to be separated for a couple of days, but, yeah, it’s limiting.”

“How far?” Sam asked.

“I think we’re up to almost a thousand feet now,” Griff said. “And it’s taken us a few months to get there.”

Sam’s mouth drew down, and Lex hastily added, “But I don’t think it’s going to be as bad for you.”

Everyone looked at him, even Griff, who wasn’t sure where he was going with that.

“Think about it, Griff,” Lex said, pushing the remains of his breakfast around with a fork. “You’d snapped a while earlier and had been in bad shape for months. You had a lot of healing to do. Still are healing, I think. Bill just snapped a few days ago, and we got Dean to him pretty quickly. I’m thinking he won’t take as long to stabilize.”

Griff took a thoughtful bite of stale Danish, barely noticing the taste and texture. That was a good point.

“Okay,” Sam said. “That’s good to know. But you’re still telling me that we’re never going to be able to live apart. So, either I’m going to have to move to…wherever Bill lives, or he’s going to have to come to Rocky Road.”

Griff nodded, wondering if this was a deal breaker. “That’s true. Uh… are you married. Or seeing someone?”

Sam shook his head. “Was. But it didn’t work out between us. But…” His tone grew sad. “I really like where I’m living and the work I’m doing. It would be hard to leave that.”

Griff could see that.

“However,” Sam continued. “I’m willing to go meet him and see what we can work out. I mean…Pete did kidnap me, but he didn’t deserve what happened. I’d never feel right if I didn’t at least try to help Bill.”

That was about the best they could hope for, and Griff decided they’d take it.

“But why did they let you all go about, living apparently normal lives?” Stiles asked. “Wouldn’t it have made more sense for them to have kept you somewhere. Uh. Ready for transfer. As horrible as that thought is.”

Griff had wondered about that, but whenever he thought about it, the conclusions he drew were horrific, and he tried not to think about it.

Lex, however, answered. “I asked Dean about it, and he said he wasn’t certain why they let us all run free. I have a theory, though.”

“Which is?” Sam asked.

“If we’re living our lives, they don’t have to expend any resources maintaining us. We buffers can learn the useful skills we’ve been bred for, and vessels? Well, they live until they snap. Dean said they usually collect vessels at that point, stabilize them with their buffers and then transfer.”

Griff suppressed a shudder. It wasn’t much more than he’d expected.

“But how do we end up out in the world in the first place?” Sam asked. “How can they be certain our parents produce us?”

Lex shot both Sam and Griff apologetic looks. “Dean did know the answer to that one.”

Suddenly, Griff thought he knew the answer also, but he didn’t want to hear it.

However, it was too late. Lex was already answering. “We’re basically changelings.”

Sam’s eyes widened in horror, while Griff closed his in the same emotion. It was what he had thought.

“You mean they swap children at birth?” Terri asked.

“That’s what Dean said, and I have no reason to doubt him.”

So, his brother had never really been his brother. All the time he’d spent fearing he’d turn out like Eric had been wasted. Although Griff wasn’t sure that his true nature was much better.

He felt Lex’s sympathetic gaze on him. Had his partner guessed his thoughts? It wouldn’t be the first time.

“What do they do with the other children?” Stiles asked, his voice hard.

“Dean didn’t say, and I didn’t ask,” Lex said.

Griff wished, once more, that they could kill Karl all over again. He hadn’t been the only one responsible, or even the main one, but he was the one Griff had met. The only one he knew to take his rage and horror out on.

Sam squared his shoulders. “Well, that sucks. But if anything, it makes me even more determined to make something work with Bill. None of us deserve to suffer alone after what they’ve done.” He sighed. “If Bill’s not willing to move, then I guess I’ll see if his town needs a pastor. Or a jack of all trades. I wasn’t always a pastor.”

“Thank you,” Griff said.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes, digesting what they had learned.

Finally, Stiles said, “I don’t know that you need Terri and me for dealing with Bill. Maybe we can head back to D.C. and help the task force in some way?”

Griff was about to agree with him when Lex’s phone rang. His partner answered it with a frown. “Jimmy?”

_Bill’s partner_ , Griff mouthed to Sam who nodded his understanding.

“Wait? What? Slow down, man.”

Apprehension crawled down Griff’s spine. Had something happened to Bill?

“Okay, I got it. Yeah, Jimmy. We’ll get there as fast as we can. Is there someplace safe you can take Dean and Bill?”

A pause. “Okay, then do that. No, don’t tell me where. Just tell us where to meet you, and you can take us there. I doubt anyone is listening in to this call, but let’s not take chances. They’ve surprised us in the past. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

He disconnected.

“What happened?” Stiles asked.

“Jimmy says he’s seen some suspicious people in Jericho. And no, this isn’t the kind of paranoia Bill was exhibiting. Jimmy says they have badges and are calling themselves FBI. They’ve been asking about strangers. Strangers who look like Bill. No one has been giving them answers because, other than Jimmy, no one knows anything.”

“Shit,” Griff said.

“Yeah,” Lex agreed.

“We can ask Joshua to find out if the FBI is investigating anyone in Jericho,” Terri said. “But it seems unlikely.”

Lex nodded. “I agree. I can hack their system too, if Joshua can’t find out anything, but I’m pretty sure it’s the cabal in some way.”

Stiles shrugged. “Guess we’re going with you after all.”

***

Griff did the driving to Jericho while Lex did research.

He started with the two nearby FBI district offices. He knew Joshua hated it when he hacked the FBI, but he decided the situation deserved it. Plus, Joshua totally understood asking for forgiveness instead of permission. It didn’t take him long to determine that the FBI had no active investigation going on in Jericho.

Then he switched to searching camera feeds.

“What are you doing?” Sam asked.

Lex had to suppress his irritation. He’d gotten used to Griff asking what he was doing or watching him over his shoulder, but Sam was new. However, he had the right to ask, considering how much this affected him.

“Easy,” Griff said softly.

Lex took a deep breath. “I started by checking the FBI. No surprise but they are not investigating anything in Jericho.”

Griff snorted. “Nope. Not a surprise there.”

Lex managed a small smile. “Now I’m looking at camera feeds. There aren’t many in Jericho, but there are a few, especially the ones we installed in Town Hall.”

“Oh.” A pause. “Did you install some in my parsonage?”

“Uh. Yeah. We did. It’s how Griff and I knew you’d been kidnapped.”

A longer pause, which Lex used to flip through the Town Hall feed.

“Okay. I guess that’s a good thing, then.”

“We didn’t know if you were a vessel or a buffer,” Griff said. “And we wanted to keep an eye on you if you snapped.”

“Or if I got kidnapped.”

“That was basically a bonus,” Griff said.

Lex rewound the camera feed, looking for anyone who had the appearance of FBI. He had to go back a ways, but he finally saw two men in suits, flashing badges. He captured their faces and sent them to Joshua. Then he pulled out his phone to call his boss.

“Lex? Excellent work on that new database. Gage is setting up a joint task force right now.”

“Yeah. That’s good, Joshua. Hey, you got the pictures I sent you?”

“Possibly. I’m not at my desk. I’m assuming you sent them in the last five minutes or so?”

“Yes.” Lex had the grace to be a bit embarrassed. His boss did have duties other than waiting for him to email pictures to run through face recognition.

“I do spend some of my day in places other than in front of my computer, my boy.”

Griff was grinning, which Lex knew meant he could hear Joshua’s side of the conversation. “Right. Yeah. Sorry. Anyway?”

“I’m on my way even as we speak.”

“Good. Because these two are in Jericho asking about Bill. They say they are FBI, but neither district office is running an investigation there.”

“I see. As in I do see the pictures you sent. Yes, I can run them through facial recognition. I assume you are on your way back to Jericho?”

“Yes. And we’re borrowing Stiles and Terri.”

“I did know that. Because Terri is a good employee _who remembers to call her boss when plans change_.”

Lex winced. Joshua hadn’t been loud, but the emphasis came across anyway. “I’m sorry. Things are moving rapidly here. I’m calling now?”

Joshua chuckled. “We’ll let it go this time. I’ll let you know when I have something.”

“Thank you, Joshua.”

He disconnected.

“He gently rip you a new one?” Griff asked.

Lex shot his partner a look. “How do you even do that?”

Griff shrugged. “He’s Joshua. He can do pretty much anything, can’t he?”

His partner had a point.

“I’m thinking I want to meet this guy,” Sam commented.

“Probably will someday,” Lex said absently as he considered his next move. While it was possible some other organization was investigating Bill, it seemed more likely they were connected to the cabal. And with Jericho being fairly close to Rocky Road, it seemed likely he had leads in the data he’d found. With a sigh, he opened up the files he’d downloaded.

“Anything I can do to help?” Sam asked. “It’s sort of boring back here.”

Lex considered. Two sets of eyes could cover more ground. Sam wasn’t a trained agent, but he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.

“Want to look at files?” he asked.

“Will it be more interesting than endless corn fields?”

“Probably not,” Griff put in. “Not if it’s anything like the last time Lex and I looked at files.”

Lex turned to look at Sam, who shrugged and said, “Why not? If I can help, I will.”

Lex transferred some files to his phone, turned off the passcode to unlock and handed it back to Sam. “Face ID should work. Griff can unlock my phone, so I’m thinking you can too.”

Sam laughed. “Well that’s one good thing about us all looking alike.” He took the phone and settled back in his seat with it.

Lex started opening files also. Bank accounts. Lists of auxiliary people, but none of them had pictures. Maybe if Joshua came back with IDs on the two fake FBI agents?

“Huh,” Sam said after several minutes.

“Got something?” Griff asked.

“Maybe. Uh. I suppose you guys checked me out and know a bit of my history?”

Lex grinned. “Like the million parking tickets and the couple of arrests for minor cons?”

“Yeah. Like those.”

“Yes, we know about those,” Griff said, a smile in his voice.

“So, there’s this place mentioned in one of the files? I may know something about it.”

Lex felt his entire body go alert. “Which one? And what do you know?”

Sam handed over the phone. “William’s Farm. It’s only a passing mention, but I recognized the name.”

Lex waved away the phone and went back to his own files and started a search for every instance of “William’s Farm.” He got hits immediately.

“What did you hear about it?” Griff asked.

“Not too much. Just that it was a good place to avoid unless you wanted trouble. Or had the kinds of things they were looking to ‘acquire.’”

Lex could hear the quotes around the word.

“Which were?” Griff asked. Out of the corner of his eye, Lex could see Griff’s fingers tapping the steering wheel. He opened the first of the files containing the name.

“Medical supplies mostly. Supposedly really specialty stuff. I never got into anything like that.”

Lex looked up and met Griff’s eyes. “Sounds like our kind of place.”

Griff nodded. “You know that we never found the actual facility where the transfers were taking place.”

Lex did remember that. It had bothered all of them at the time, but since they had shut down the flow of money into the operation, they had assumed they had shut down the transfers as well. Perhaps not. “Are you thinking this might be it?”

“Possibly,” Griff said. “Or, one of them. I never thought there was only one.”

Griff and the head of the task force that had taken down the operation had butted heads over that. Lex had been in the hospital at the time and hadn’t been able to weigh in on it, but he’d trusted his partner’s instincts. It was a part of the reason Lex had been so vexed at his inability to find the files he knew had to exist. He stared at his computer. Now he had more of them. But was this the end? Or were there more out there still?

“So you think this place is where the fake FBI agents are coming from?” Sam asked.

“Seems likely,” Lex said. The first of the files wasn’t exactly helpful. It just mentioned the “Farm” as a location for some meeting that had taken place several years earlier. “Do you have a location, Sam?”

“Middle of Kansas, somewhere, I think.”

“That’s a lot of ground to cover,” Griff said.

Lex opened another file. Jackpot! “Never mind. I have the location. Now let’s take a look at it.” He pulled up a Google Earth view of the approximate location, and, sure enough, there was something that looked vaguely like a farm. If a farm had barbed wire fences high enough to keep out people in addition to cattle. Lex thought it looked more like a prison than a farm. There were three large, low buildings, big enough to house at least twenty people. Maybe more if they were willing to be cozy. He zoomed in and saw what he thought was a large generator by another building, which also had no windows and several antennae jutting off of it.

“Well, I’m not sure what a mad scientist complex looks like, exactly,” Lex said. “But this might be one.”

Griff leaned a bit to the side, and Sam hung over the seat back.

“Griff, eyes on the road. Sam, no crowding.”

Griff straightened but Sam didn’t sit back in his seat. Lex left the Google view up in one window and went back to the files. In the third file, he thought he had something. A list of names, presumably people working at the facility.

His phone rang. Joshua. “What do you have for me?”

“And what have I said about remembering the pleasantries, Lex?”

Lex rolled his eyes but smiled too. “How are you this fine day, Joshua. Have you had a chance to run those images?”

“Much better, brat. And yes, I do have names for you. I’ve emailed you the particulars. They appear to be fairly low-level criminal types. Nothing that specifically ties them to Nazis, but you never know.”

Lex opened up the email and saw that Joshua had given names--Chris Marshall and Kevin Jones--and attached their records. Scanning it quickly, he saw that Joshua was correct. Enough of a record to give them credibility in certain circles but not enough to have them on any watch lists. “Thank you. Joshua. We may have found another cabal facility. Possibly even one that does transfers.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It’s in the information I sent you. A place called William’s Farm in Kansas. Not too far from where we are.”

“You’re not considering anything unwise are you?”

“No. We’re just heading for Bill. But I thought it might be useful for the task force. And I am looking at a file of people who work at the Farm, and, yes, our two fake agents do work there. So that confirms they aren’t there randomly for Bill.”

Griff glanced over, his expression concerned.

“Well, we had been pretty sure about it anyway, Griff.”

“True,” his partner said. Lex noticed the car speed up a bit.

“Don’t do anything rash,” Joshua said.

“When do I do rash things?” Lex asked absently, copying the information about the two men into another file.

“I’m not going to dignify that question with an answer,” Joshua said. “Call me when you have Bill safe. Or need another face tracked down.”

“Thank you, Joshua,” Lex said again, hoping his boss could hear the gratitude in his voice. He wasn’t sure what he and Griff would have done without him.

“You’re welcome. Now show your gratitude properly by all of you coming back in one piece.”

“We’ll do that,” Lex assured him as he disconnected the call.

“What now?” Sam asked.

“Now I get some idea of where these two might be,” Lex said. “How far are we from Jericho, Griff?”

“About an hour.”

“Okay. That should be enough time.” Before he started his next hack, he called Terri and filled her in. “Hopefully I’ll have a location for them before we get there. We can take care of them and then get to Bill.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Terri said before she hung up.

“How are you going to figure out where they are?” Sam asked.

“I can tell you or I can just do it,” Lex said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. He liked Sam. He did. And he had been helpful about the “Farm” thing. But did he have to ask so damned many questions?

Griff chuckled beside him and said, “He’s not always this cranky. Honest.”

Lex ignored him and started work. Joshua had sent addresses of record for both Chris and Kevin, and Lex started there. Both of them lived in Missouri and had no specific job listed, just independent contractors.

While interesting information, it wasn’t what Lex needed, so he set about checking for a phone number for either or both of them. The same database he’d used to track down Eduard was sufficient. Both Chris and Kevin had mobile numbers and were with AT&T. Next he hacked his way into the AT&T system and found the phone records for both of them. Most importantly, he wanted to know what kind of phones they had. Ah. Chris had an iPhone XS while Kevin had the latest Samsung. Lex smiled. Android was easier to hack than Apple.

It was a dirty trick, but he had developed a way to trick a carrier into installing a custom app to a phone. He sent the app to Kevin’s phone, and he was in.

“Wait!” Sam exclaimed. “Are you basically emulating someone’s phone on your laptop?”

“Yep,” Lex said, allowing a bit of pride to creep into his tone. Kevin wasn’t using the phone at the moment, which gave him time to work. First, he turned on location services, which allowed him to find the phone. Not surprisingly, it was in Jericho, moving slowly through the town.

“Cool! You can follow where he is.” Sam again.

“Yes. That’s the idea. If we know where he is, we can hope Chris is with him, and we can take them both. Stiles and Terri can arrange to have the authorities deal with them while we take you to Bill.”

“Nice, Lex,” Griff said. The approval in his tone warmed something deep inside him. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“You haven’t seen all my tricks yet. Got to keep a few back to surprise you with later.”

Griff laughed. “True enough.”

Lex left the trace on Kevin’s phone while he dug into the man’s email. Ah. Motel reservation. That could be good to know. Also, a rental car. Apparently, Kevin had made all the reservations.

“Can you do that to the other guy’s phone?” Sam asked.

“Nope. Apple doesn’t allow carriers to install apps on iPhones. It’s one reason I only carry Apple phones. Oh, I do have a custom Android phone I use, but I’ve backdoored it onto the cell network. And it’s locked down so no one can do this sort of thing to me.”

“Oh. Maybe I should switch phones then.”

“If you have an Android one, yeah, I’d recommend it,” Lex said absently, scrolling through Kevin’s email from the last few days. He didn’t see anything else that was interesting. Which was disappointing. Sure, it wasn’t likely that the guy’d have “here there be Nazis” in his email, but he could hope, right?

He called Terri again. “I can track one of the guys by where his cell phone it. Hopefully they are together. They rented a car, so I think it’s likely.”

“All right,” Terri said. “I think we’re getting close?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes,” Lex said. “I’m going to text Jimmy to make sure Bill is safe, and we can convene outside town and figure out how we’re going to deal with these two.”

“Sounds like a plan. We’ll follow you.”

“Okay.” Lex disconnected. “So, I can track Kevin. Think we can figure something out with that?”

Griff nodded. “I think so. Where are they now?”

“On the edge of town. I think they might be heading for the motel room they rented. Well, I say ‘they.’ The only one I know for sure is Kevin since I’m only tracking his phone.”

“Them being at the motel is both good and bad,” Griff said.

“I know. On the one hand, both of them in one place. On the other, plenty of opportunities for collateral damage.” As soon as Lex spoke, he remembered Griff’s shooting mistake. “Shit, Griff. Sorry.”

Griff shook his head. “It’s fine. It happened. We can’t dance around it forever.”

“What happened?” Sam asked.

“I made a mistake on a take down at a motel and accidentally shot the wrong guy. It was the beginning of the end of my FBI career.”

Lex put a hand on Griff’s thigh.

“Uh. Sorry I asked,” Sam said.

Griff sighed. “Like I said. It happened. I can’t avoid the fact forever. At least this time I’m not going slowly crazy like I was back then.”

“I’ll stay plenty close,” Lex said.

“While still staying well out of the line of fire. No diving in stupidly this time.”

“Right. Of course.” Lex was reminded inappropriately of the aftereffects of that bit of recklessness. But damn, the sex had been good!

“You don’t need to put yourself in danger to get that,” Griff said, sounding amused.

“I feel like I’m missing part of the story,” Sam said.

“You are,” Lex said. “And you’re going to keep on missing it.”

“Oh,” Sam said, his tone making it plain that he got the basic idea, if not the specifics.

“Focus, everyone,” Griff said.

“Yeah,” Lex said, watching the little dot representing Kevin’s phone as it moved along the map and turned into the parking lot of the motel. “And the motel it is.”

He sent a quick text to Terri and then another to Jimmy, asking if they were safe. Texts were harder to track than phone calls, and Lex didn’t want to take any chances at this point. His phone beeped a minute later.

“Jimmy and Bill are safe, at least for now.”

His phone beeped again with a text from Terri asking where they should stop to plan. Lex quickly hunted down a strip mall and sent it back to them. Mall parking lots were a decent place for five people to stand around and look like they were planning something.

He suggested the location to Griff, who nodded and said, “Just give me directions.”

Ten minutes later, they were all standing around Terri and Stiles’ van.

“So, what’s the plan?” Stiles asked.

“Basic kick in the door?” Griff suggested. “After we make sure they’re in there. Did you bring thermal imagery equipment with you?”

Stiles nodded.

“So we suit up, check out the room with thermal and go in fast and hard,” Griff said. “Keep it simple.”

“Works for me,” Stiles said.

“What about me?” Sam asked.

“You and Lex stay in the van,” Griff said. “Lex, can you shut down their cell phones so they can’t call for help?”

“I can shut down Kevin’s but to take down Chris’ I need to take down the entire area.”

“Think we can get permission to do it?” Griff asked.

“Probably,” Stiles answered. “But I’d rather do it and ask for forgiveness later.”

Terri made a disapproving clicking sound with her tongue but didn’t say anything else.

“We don’t have to take down service for long,” Lex pointed out. “Maybe ten minutes or so?”

“Sounds good,” Stiles said. “Suit up and let’s do this.”

Stiles and Terri were already wearing their vests. Lex and Griff hopped into the van and put on theirs. “Wish we had a spare for Sam.” Lex said.

“Yes. We’ll just have to make sure there’s no shooting,” Griff said. “Stiles and I should be able to ensure that.”

Lex gave Griff a quick kiss before they both climbed out of the van.

“Meet you at the motel?” Griff asked Stiles.

“That works. Is there any place across the street where we can set up for the thermal?”

Lex got out his phone and Google Maps. “Yeah. A tiny strip mall, maybe three stores, right across the street.”

“Perfect. Meet you there.”

Griff followed Stiles to the strip mall, and they all climbed back into the van.

“This seems awkward,” Sam commented. “Are operations always like this?”

Lex nodded. “Pretty much. Park a van in an inconvenient place and then try not to get noticed when you go in and out of it.”

Griff nodded. “That’s what we did too.”

“Huh. Somehow I thought it would be smoother.”

“That’s because you’re getting your impressions from TV,” Stiles said. “And real life is nothing like TV.”

Stiles set up the thermal imaging camera and pointed it in the general direction of the motel. “Where’s their room?”

“112. On the front,” Lex said, using binoculars to look at room numbers. “Third one to the right of the stairs.”

Stiles adjusted the equipment, and Griff looked over his shoulder at the screen. “Looks like two. So, they are probably both there.”

Lex pulled out his phone and dialed Chris’ number. On the monitor, they watched one of the blobby orange figures put something to his ear.

“Yeah? Who is it?”

Lex hung up. “Either that’s Chris or he gave his phone to someone.”

“I think it’s safe to assume it’s Chris,” Stiles said. “Targets confirmed. We go in?”

Griff nodded. “Yes. Before they leave and go someplace else.”

“Sam and Lex. You stay in the car,” Stiles said. “Sam, keep your head down. Lex, you take down the cell network right as we drive over there. And monitor the police band in case they decide to show up?”

“Can do,” Lex said.

Sam nodded but looked nervous.

“It’s highly unlikely that any stray shots will make it this far,” Lex assured him.

“‘Highly unlikely’ and ‘no chance in Hell’ aren’t the same thing,” Sam pointed out.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine,” Lex said as he pulled up the police band on his laptop before walking back to the car with Sam. “Good luck,” he said to Griff as he hopped out of the van.

“Thanks,” Griff said as he checked his pistol.

Lex got into the driver’s seat, just in case there was a need for a hasty departure. Sam sat beside him. “Now what?” he asked.

“We wait,” Lex said, watching the van drive across the street. He knew Griff was good at what he did. And that Stiles and Terri were excellent backup. However, he still didn’t like sending his partner into danger.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who have been waiting for it, Bill and Sam finally meet!

Griff crouched in the back of the van while Stiles drove it to the motel parking lot. He focused his mind on the operation, running through what they had planned. He knew it never worked that smoothly, but he liked to run through the steps, deciding on likely points of failure and what he could do to adjust.

He’d been in too much of a rush on that final, awful mission, hadn’t done his usual prep work. Was it the reason he’d shot the wrong guy? He couldn’t ever prove it, but he’d decided he’d never skip visualizing the mission again.

“We’re here,” Stiles announced as he parked the van and turned off the engine. “Everyone ready?”

“I am,” Terri said.

“Ready,” Griff said.

“Lex? You hearing us?”

“Loud and clear,” came Lex’s even voice in his ear. Griff felt his muscles relax. He was loose and ready and marveled that his partner’s voice, even just a few words, had that effect on him.

“What are their positions?” Stiles asked, his tone business-like.

“Both targets are in the main room. One is lying on the bed farthest from the door. The other is sitting on the left side of the room, probably at a desk.”

“So, the guy on the bed is to the right when we open the door?”

“Correct,” Lex said.

“All right. By the numbers people. Griff, you go right, and I’ll go left.” Stiles said.

“Roger that,” Griff said.

He and Terri got out, and Griff opened the van door to follow them. The plan was for him and Stiles to go in first while Terri provided backup and watched for civilians.

Stiles led and Griff followed him. The big man moved quickly to the motel door and, with one kick, forced it open. Griff was always surprised at how strong the agent was.

Stiles rushed in, gun raised. He went left and Griff followed, breaking right.

“Freeze. FBI!” Stiles yelled.

Griff found his target, sitting on the far bed, as Lex had said. He was just starting to straighten, reaching for the pistol that lay beside him. “Don’t move,” Griff barked. “I will shoot.”

“You can’t shoot us,” the guy at the desk said. “We have rights.”

“Go for that gun, and you’ll see how fast we can shoot,” Stiles said, his tone perfectly even.

Griff’s guy raised both of his hands.

“Terri, come on in now,” Stiles said.

Terri moved into the room, gun raised.

“Terri, you cover the guy on the bed. Griff, cuff them both.”

Griff put away his gun, hating this part but trusting the other two to cover him.

It went surprisingly smoothly. Just a few minutes later, both men were cuffed and lying face down on the beds. Griff had relieved them of their respective weapons and cell phones.

He tapped his earpiece. “Lex. I’ve got their cell phones. You can put the network back.”

“On it. Sounds like it all went well,” came Lex’s voice in his ear.

“It did.”

“We’ve got these two,” Stile said. “I’ll call it in, and Terri and I will stay with them. Why don’t you and Lex get Sam to Bill?”

“Sounds good.” Griff handed the thugs’ weapons to Terri and walked out of the room to the van.

Lex started to get into the back to let Griff drive, but Sam hopped out. “You guys can have the front seat.”

Griff felt his cheeks heat up, but Lex just grinned and slid over to the passenger side. Griff started the van. “Where am I going anyway?”

Lex gave a start. “Oh, yeah. I guess it’s safe for them to tell us where they are now.” He called Jimmy. “Yeah, it’s fine. The bad guys are in custody.” A pause. “Terri and Stiles, a couple of fellow agents, have them. No, we didn’t shoot anyone, Jimmy! We’re not like that.”

Griff grinned at Jimmy’s (or Bill’s) assumption that the CIA would come in shooting.

“Wait. Slow down. Let me put you on speaker so Griff can hear. He’s the one doing the driving.” Lex put the phone on the divider between the two seats.

“Hey, Jimmy,” Griff said.

“We’re at the Green’s barn, a few miles out of town,” Jimmy said. He gave directions, and Griff nodded at them. He’d always had a good head for directions and could remember even complicated ones with relative ease.

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” Griff said when Jimmy finished. He was amused that Lex was shaking his head. His partner could not navigate without the aid of his phone and GPS. “We’ll be there in a bit. Uh, we’ve got a lot to catch you up on.” He suspected the news about Pete wasn’t going to go over well with Bill.

“Okay. See you when you get here.”

“Bill’s not going to be happy about Pete, is he?” Sam said.

“Probably not,” Lex agreed.

“So what’s he like anyway? I mean, if I’m going to be attached at the hip with this guy, I suppose I should know a little bit about him.”

Griff shrugged. “Uh. We haven’t really seen him at his best, but, based on what we saw on the cameras, he looks like a pretty good deputy. Seems to get along with his fellows.”

Lex nodded. “Yeah. Seems a bit on the serious side, though. I didn’t see him laugh much.”

Griff could hear Sam swallow hard at that. “Uh. Right. Um.”

“But we’ve only seen him at work,” Lex hastened to add. “Jimmy seems cool, and they are obviously pretty close.”

“Not sure that’s helping,” Sam said. “Since one of us is going to have to move. I’ve got friends back in Rocky Road too, you know.” He sighed deeply. “Girlfriend? Boyfriend?”

“Not according to Jimmy,” Griff said.

“That might make things easier.”

Griff could hear the doubts and reluctance in Sam’s voice, and he hated it. He hated that some entitled old men with delusions of immortality had put them all in this situation. “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault, Griff,” Sam said. “I know that. Doesn’t mean I _like_ this, but I don’t blame you guys.”

Griff bumped the rental car slowly up a dirt driveway that led to a horse barn. When Jimmy had said they were hiding out in a barn, he hadn’t been kidding.

The barn door was closed, but, as he watched, it cracked open a few inches. He thought it was Jimmy peeking through. He waved at the figure, and the door opened further to reveal Jimmy and then Bill. Both men were in their deputy uniforms, Bill with a radio on his shoulder.

“Shit!” Sam exclaimed. “He does look like us.”

Lex chuckled. “You doubted it after already meeting three of us?”

“Well, no. But Bill looks a lot like you, Lex. Uh. Without the sideburns.”

Griff heard the hesitation in Sam’s voice and couldn’t stifle his laugh. “Not a fan of them, are you?”

“No. They’re fine. Just fine.”

Lex was laughing too, and Griff made a point of reaching out to run a gentle finger down the sideburn nearest to him. He’d never been a fan, either. Then he met Lex and decided they were okay on him. Better than okay, even.

Bill, Dean and Jimmy approached the car. Griff, Lex and Sam all got out. Jimmy waved at them. “All clear in town then?”

“We think so,” Griff said.

“So, I can go home now?” Bill asked, his tone sour.

“Probably,” Lex said. “But, uh. We need to talk, I think. There’s stuff you need to know. And…” He glanced around. “This place is as good as any, I guess. Assuming there’s someplace in there to sit down?”

Jimmy waved them to the barn. “There’s hay bales.”

“Wonderful,” Lex said, his mouth turned down.

“City boy,” Griff teased gently.

Sam and Bill were looking at each other, posture similar to two strange cats meeting for the first time. Sam swallowed, stepped forward and stuck out his hand. “I’m Sam Richards.”

“Bill Koehler,” he said as he took Sam’s hand to shake it. As soon as their hands touched, they both gasped loudly. It looked as if Bill’s knees went weak for a moment, and Sam stepped forward to support him. However, Bill shook him off, took a moment to get his balance and then turned to march to the barn. “Let’s get this over with, all right?”

Jimmy gave them all an apologetic look and followed his partner. The remaining “twins” all looked at each other in some confusion.

Dean sighed. “He’s really not happy about all this.”

“I can see that,” Griff said. “Maybe I’ll talk to him. Right now, I guess I’m the one who understands the best.”

“Yeah. Okay,” Sam said, sounding unhappy. “Maybe that would help.”

They entered the barn where Bill was sitting on a hay bale, Jimmy standing over him. From the body language, Griff thought Jimmy was giving him hell.

Griff noticed a rifle and shotgun leaning against the wall. They had been ready in case they had been found, and he nodded in approval.

Several horse heads regarded them curiously, but without alarm, from the stalls on each side of the large open area into which Jimmy had guided them.

Bill waved his partner aside and said, “So what do we need to know?”

Griff realized everyone was looking at him, and he sighed and sat down on the bale that faced Bill. Lex sat beside him, his warmth a comfort. “Sam was kidnapped, as you know.” He motioned to Sam. “And obviously we got him back.”

“Who kidnapped him?” Jimmy asked. “More of the Nazi people?”

“Sort of. They were behind it, but the actual kidnapper was one of us.”

Bill pointed at each “twin” in turn. “This kind of ‘one of us?’”

“Yes. Pete North,” Griff said.

“Where is he then?” Dean asked.

Griff hesitated, but they needed to know. “He shot himself.”

“What?” Bill asked. “Over a failed kidnapping?”

“No.” Griff shook his head. “He was a vessel. He’d been told if he turned you, Bill, and me over to the cell he was working for that they’d let him be with his buffer. But they lied. They’d killed his buffer.”

Bill’s eyes widened, and his shoulders slumped.

“Had he snapped?” Dean asked.

“I don’t think so,” Lex answered. “I touched him. I think he was close but not quite there. But he knew what would happen without Robbie, his buffer. We…were going to stay with him that night, but he had a gun we didn’t know about. In his room. He did it while I was downstairs getting him something to drink. To try to help him sleep. We’d hoped you might have had ideas, Dean. But I guess he couldn’t wait.”

Bill’s gaze was on the ground, and his face was pale. Griff felt for him. The entire conversation was reminding him of what awaited him if anything ever happened to Lex.

His partner scooted closer and put an arm around him, holding him tightly.

Bill shook his head. “I can’t deal with this. I just can’t.” He stood up and stalked out of the barn.

Griff gave Lex a quick kiss on his cheek and got up. “Let me talk to him.”

Dean nodded. “A good idea. I’ll see if Sam has any other questions I can answer.”

Lex looked a question at him, but Griff shook his head. “I think this has to be me alone.”

“All right. Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Griff hurried out of the barn just in time to see Bill vanish around another building. By the time he’d turned the corner, Bill had stopped and was staring into the small wood that surrounded the farm.

“Bill?”

The deputy didn’t turn but scuffed his boot in the dirt.

Griff walked up and stood next to him, close enough to touch but not actually touching him.

After several minutes of standing together, Bill finally said, “I can’t get any farther than this from him. I wanted to just keep on walking, but as soon as I got to here, I knew. Going any farther would be bad. I’d start to get paranoid again.”

Griff nodded. “I know what you mean. I’m not at the edge of our range, but if I went too far, yeah, it would be a problem.” He looked back and did some mental calculations. “For what it’s worth, this is farther than Lex and I could be apart until we’d been together for several weeks.”

Bill shook his head. “So this is forever, isn’t it? I mean, even if our range is greater than yours was, I still can’t be too far apart from him ever again, right? Not unless I want to go crazy and maybe hurt people. Like I already did to Jimmy.”

“Yes. As far as we know. Dean said he and Karl could be separated for a couple of days, as long as they didn’t do it too often.”

“Which means one of us has to move, right?”

“Probably. I don’t see another option.”

Bill started pacing. “That’s bad enough. But you know what the worst part is?”

“No.” Griff could come up with several possibilities, but he didn’t even want to try to guess what Bill was thinking.

“I don’t even like the guy. When I shook his hand, I got a sense of him. Guess it’s that psychic thing. He’s not much more than a two-bit con man. I’m in law enforcement. How can I spend the rest of my life with someone like that?”

Griff hadn’t suspected that, although, playing back Bill’s reaction, maybe he should have. “Your psychic abilities must be pretty good then.”

Bill looked at him for the first time. “You didn’t get that from Lex?”

Griff shook his head. “Not really. But I’d snapped a long time before, and I was doped to my eyeballs. I knew I liked him, but honestly, he was the first person in months to show me a hint of kindness. That might have factored more into my impression of him than anything I got from touching him.”

“Huh,” Bill said. “But you still like him? I mean, you guys are together. Doesn’t seem like it’s a huge hardship for you.”

“True. But a couple of things are different for me. First, I had no place to call home. I’d been locked in a mental hospital for months before Lex found me. I didn’t have a life to walk away from. And…” This was harder for him. He hadn’t really thought about it before. “I think I’d love him even without the connection. I mean, yeah, it’s good, and it makes the emotional connection stronger, but I don’t think that’s it. I think Lex was the one for me, and, as much as I hate all this crap, I’m grateful it brought us together.”

“Easy for you. You love yours, and I can’t stand the sight of mine.”

Griff shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, you do have a choice. You always have a choice. It’s just that one of them sucks pretty bad.”

Bill frowned out at the woods. “Yeah. Crazy plus hurting people. Not great.”

Griff carefully tucked the third option as far back in his awareness as he could. He could feel the turmoil in Bill. He didn’t want Bill to sense that suicide was a way out.

Bill sighed. “I know you’re trying to hide it, but, yeah, I can sense the third option too. And I’d already thought about it.”

“Sorry. I…well…I considered it at a particularly bad time.” He didn’t want to admit that the thought still crossed his mind at times.

“Yeah. Well, I can’t do that. It’s just not in my nature.”

“I’m not sure what to tell you, then? Maybe Dean has ideas?”

Bill shook his head. “Already asked. As far as he knows, Sam’s my only hope.” He threw up his hands. “I don’t even know if he likes me. I mean, is it living if you’re spending the rest of your life with someone you don’t like? I might want to get married someday. How do I explain this? And no, I’m not into guys, so your solution with Lex won’t work for me.”

Griff had no answers. However, he appreciated what he had with Lex even more. It had been easy for them by comparison.

Bill scuffed the ground again with his foot, this time looking as if he was willing to try to dig his way to the other side of the world. “I don’t see any other way. So I guess I need to try to like Sam. Somehow.”

“For what it’s worth, I’ve been hanging out with him for long enough now to get a sense of him. Yes, he’s been a bit of a con man. But I think his heart’s in the right place.”

“All right. I’ll give him another chance.”

Bill turned and walked back to the barn. Griff followed, wishing the deputy didn’t look so much as if he were marching to his execution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Telling you now. If you ever decide to write Bill? He's the most stubborn character ever. Makes everything harder on himself than he needs to. Which is hell on his author!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in the mood to just finish posting this today and not keep you in suspense about Bill and Sam any longer. Enjoy.
> 
> Embedded gifs at the end created by Fal Catrecon. THANK YOU!

Bill walked back to the barn, trying to figure out what he should do. He hated this entire situation. He wanted nothing to do with it. But he believed Griff, Dean and all of them. Jimmy had described what had happened when Lex had driven away from Griff. He _had_ attacked his partner, and that was in no way like him. When he was close to Dean, he knew he hadn’t been right in the head. He couldn’t allow that to continue.

Suicide was out. He’d never consider that. He’d been on too many welfare calls and had to talk to too many grieving families. He didn’t have much of a family anymore, but he had friends, and Jimmy was as close as family.

So, Sam? Was that really his best (only) option? His head said there must be another way. But his instincts told him otherwise. He hadn’t told Griff everything. Yes, he’d gotten a sense of Sam from the brief handclasp. But there had been something else. When he touched Dean, it helped to settle him, but he knew it wasn’t right. There was something missing. When he’d touched Sam? Everything within him screamed _THAT_.

He didn’t like it. But he couldn’t deny that Sam was the one he was meant to be with. In a platonic way, because there was no way he was doing the Lex/Griff thing with Sam. It worked for them. But not for him.

Sam was standing outside as Bill walked up. Griff walked past them into the barn, giving them some privacy. Obviously, it was time to nut up and face this.

“Sam?”

Sam was shifting his feet and looking at the ground. “Hey, Bill. Uh, I know this sucks and all. But, well, I’d like to have a chance to get to know you and for you to know me?”

Anger rose within him. He knew it wasn’t fair or right, but he couldn’t help it. “You’re basically a two-bit con man, Sam!”

Sam lowered his head. “Yeah. I _was_ that. But I’m not anymore. I’ve found something that I really enjoy. I’m helping people, and I want to keep doing that. I’m not intending to go back to what I was. I like who I am now and don’t want to be what I was then.”

Bill heard the sincerity in his voice, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to keep seeing Sam the way he had when they’d shaken hands. If he saw him as something different, it might mean he’d have to accept all this craziness. And maybe leave Jericho. Which, at its core, was a big part of the problem. If they had to stay near each other, then one of them was going to have to move, and Bill didn’t want to leave his home. From what Sam was saying, he suspected the other man didn’t want to leave his either. Which left them where?

The sound of tires crunching on gravel sounded down the road, carrying in the clean, country air. Bill's head came up as he banished the distraction of the conversation with Sam and focused on the car. "Jimmy?" he called, pitching his voice to carry to the barn but hopefully no farther.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

Bill waved him to silence. It could be one of the Greens coming to feed the horses, but he didn’t think it sounded like a truck. More like a sedan.

Jimmy’s head poked around the barn door. “Bill?”

“Truck coming. You expecting anyone?”

“No,” came Jimmy’s immediate response.

Bill automatically moved to put himself between Sam and the approaching car. “Sam. Get in the barn.”

Sam moved instantly, without asking more questions. That was a relief, at least.

Bill followed him and saw Griff standing between Lex and the door to the barn. Dean was farther back, eyeing them curiously. Lex was on the phone.

“You think the car is trouble?” Griff asked.

“Not sure, but better to be prepared.” He motioned to Lex. “Who’s he talking to?”

“Terri. Trying to find out if the two guys will tell us anything about who else is in the neighborhood,” came Griff’s even response.

“I don’t recognize the car, Bill,” came Jimmy’s voice from the barn door.

All right. Time to plan. Lex shook his head and hung up the phone. “They aren’t talking. Terri said Stiles will see what he can do.”

Bill noticed Lex’s eyes moving to the two guns leaning against the wall. “If Griff can have one of those, he can move into position outside to create a cross fire.”

Bill shook his head. “That rifle’s mine. I’ll do it.”

“You can’t,” Griff hissed, already moving to the gun. “Lex and I have the range. You don’t. Not yet.”

Shit! That was the last thing he wanted to be reminded of. This damn _connection_ he had with Sam.

“Griff’s an excellent shot,” Lex said, speaking quickly. “Former Army and FBI. He knows how to move quickly and not be seen.”

Bill didn’t like it, but he’d seen how Griff walked: smooth, confident and as if he knew how to carry himself in a fight. Plus, Griff was still wearing his vest from the earlier assault. Bill didn’t have his, as much as he wanted it right now. He and Jimmy had grabbed a couple of guns on their way but hadn’t taken the time to go to the department and pick up vests. The fake FBI guys had really spooked Jimmy, and he’d overruled Bill’s suggestion to get more gear. “Fine. Take it and get going.”

Griff picked up the rifle and checked it quickly.

“Better move fast,” Jimmy said. “They are behind a bend now. They’re moving slowly, but they’ll be in sight soon.”

Griff nodded and started for the entrance to the barn. On his way, he handed Bill his pistol. “I won’t need it, but you might.” He turned to give Lex a long look, which was returned. Bill could almost feel the longing between them to touch before Griff left. However, time was short, and Griff turned to leave the barn. Bill was glad to see that, as much as they obviously meant to each other, professionalism still came first.

Bill examined the pistol, a Glock 31. Good weapon. He turned to look at Sam and Dean. “Either of you know how to shoot?”

Both men shook their heads. Naturally not. He noticed Lex had a pistol out too. And he was wearing a vest. “Fine. Lex, stay in the barn and protect Sam and Dean.”

Lex nodded, and motioned the other two back farther in the barn.

Bill hated to use the barn this way and put the horses at risk, but it was cover, and he couldn’t give up the protection. Especially not with two civilians. And Lex. He wasn’t sure how well-trained Lex was, gun and vest notwithstanding.

Jimmy had his shotgun ready and was still near the door. “They’re pulling up now. I can’t see Griff anymore. I think he got away without being seen.”

“Good.” Bill got out his service pistol and stepped to the other side of the door, where he could see the car pulling up slowly. Bill wished he were certain they were bad guys. He and Jimmy, backed up by Griff, could probably have taken them all out by now. But until he knew they were a threat, he couldn’t shoot.

“Damn. Come on. Show some weapons already.”

Bill stifled a snort. His partner clearly felt the same way.

The car pulled to a stop behind a huge pile of extra bales of hay. It looked suspiciously as if they were trying to gain cover, but that still wasn’t enough evidence.

“Bill,” he heard Lex hiss from the back of the barn. “What channel is your radio on?”

Bill told him, pitching his voice low.

“Got it,” came a response a few seconds later. “Griff and I are now broadcasting on your channel.”

Bill turned to see Lex’s head poking up from behind a bale. He was tapping his ear with one finger. Right. Tactical communications. His radio wasn’t as subtle as theirs, but it was something.

“Griff says he’s in position. Four guys in the car. He can’t see any weapons yet, though.”

Damn. Still no evidence of hostile intent. This waiting was the worst.

Jimmy was still watching outside, and Bill knew that body language. He was alert and ready.

Bill’s radio crackled. “Weapon visible!”

Bill went alert, eyes scanning the area in front of the car. Their doors opened, and four men emerged. Bill and Jimmy both raised their weapons, ready.

A deep voice called from behind the bales. “Send out Griff, Bill and Sam, and the rest of you can leave.”

Lex snorted from behind his hay bale. “Guess they don’t know about you and me, Dean.”

“Quiet,” Bill said.

No one spoke, not wanting to give away their positions.

“If that’s the way you want to play it, then.”

Bill saw motion but nothing he could fire at without just wasting ammunition.

A rifle shot rang out from behind the car, and one man dropped.

There was a flurry of motion behind the bales, and Bill smiled. Nope. They hadn’t seen Griff. This might work.

Just then, something flew through the barn. Bill could see it just well enough to identify it as cylindrical. Then he knew what it had to be.

“Grenade!” he yelled as his body, without conscious direction, turned to dash into the barn and leap over the hay bale Sam crouched behind.

He had just enough time to wonder at his instinct to protect Sam instead of his partner.

Then the world exploded.

***

Griff saw something fly toward the air just before the barn exploded. For a moment, his world narrowed, his vision grayed out, and he thought he saw his brother lurking behind him.

Lex!

Then he realized his sense of his partner hadn’t dimmed even slightly. He was still alive!

Griff was able to push back the encroaching darkness and focus on the remains of the barn below him. He’d found a good vantage point on a nearby rise and had easily taken down the one man before another had thrown the grenade.

Motion behind the bales caught his eye. As had happened when Lex had been shot during the raid on the cabal, time seemed to slow for Griff. His senses sharpened, and his brain quickly calculated angles. Almost without conscious thought, he fired, and knew that another man had gone down.

One of the men dashed out of cover to charge the barn, foolishly, Griff thought. He shifted his aim, but, before, he could fire, a pistol shot sounded from the direction of the barn, and the man went down, screaming and clutching his knee. Griff nodded. Good. A prisoner. Maybe they could get information.

The fourth man started running away from the barn, obviously heading for the road. Griff smoothly tracked him and fired. He went down.

As soon as all the bad guys were down, he noticed the screaming neighs of frantic horses and wondered how they were going to get them out. The front half of the barn looked like it had collapsed, but the back half, where most of the horses had been, looked to be in decent shape.

“Griff?” came Lex’s shaky voice in his ear.

“Lex. You’re all right?”

“Yeah. We all are. Some bruises and cuts but nothing Excedrin won’t take care of.”

Griff couldn’t help his grin at his partner’s choice of pain killer. When he took them, it was in multiples of six. “Good. Look like we got all four of them. Three dead. One wounded.”

“That’s what Jimmy said too.”

“I’m going to wait a minute and make sure there’s no one else coming.”

“Roger that.”

Griff scanned everything he could see, but nothing moved except birds and one brave squirrel. Finally, he radioed, “Clear. I’m coming down.”

“All right.” Griff thought the voice was Bill’s. It definitely wasn’t Lex. He knew his partner’s voice anywhere. But telling the other three apart was difficult still.

He walked back to the barn, rifle ready, head scanning in every direction. Nothing dangerous moved. Before he got there, he saw Jimmy, Dean and Sam leading horses out of the back of the barn. Good. They were taken care of. Griff didn’t like animals suffering from all of this.

Lex and Bill emerged from the side of the barn, through some of the rubble. Both had their pistols raised and were scanning.

“Nothing moving,” Griff said, close enough now to just hear his voice crackling from Bill’s shoulder radio.

Both men nodded at him. Lex went to cover the guy who was still rolling and clutching his knee. Bill checked the three who were probably dead. Dean, Sam and Jimmy led more horses from the barn.

Griff walked over to Lex, wanting to touch him, to reassure himself that his partner really was fine. He had a scrape over one eye and was moving stiffly on his right leg but otherwise looked as okay as he’d said he was over the radio.

As much as he wanted the contact, the professional in him knew it wasn’t the time.

“I’ll cover him, Lex. You call Stiles and then Joshua and let them know there’s more to clean up.”

Lex straightened, gave him a smile full of love, and did as asked.

Griff covered the guy, whose screams had now subsided into pained moans. However, he couldn’t summon up too much pity for him.

“These three are dead,” Bill called from nearby.

“All right. Lex is calling this in.”

“All right. Guess Jimmy and I should let the Sheriff know too.”

Griff looked up and caught the deputy’s eye. “Might have to fill him in on some other things too.” He motioned with his non-gun hand and himself, Lex and then in the general direction of Sam and Dean.

Bill nodded. “Yeah.” He stepped closer and asked, his voice low. “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure.”

“When I saw the grenade, my first instinct was to protect Sam, not my partner.”

Griff could hear the disbelief in his voice. “Kinda how this thing works, I think.”

“But I can’t patrol if I can’t be more than a few hundred feet away from him.”

Griff gave him a kind smile. “Let’s wrap this all up first. Then I think you and Sam need to talk. Happy to be a part of that, if you’d like.”

Bill straightened, all professional again. “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

The Sheriff and several deputies showed up not long after. Griff explained the situation in brief, keeping mostly to the fact that all of them had been bred for something specific by corrupt scientists—he’d barely restrained himself from using the word “evil”—and explaining that, while they had taken down one cell, there were obviously others. It was obvious the explanation wasn’t satisfying, but Lex got Joshua on the phone, and he did his usual near-magic explanation that got everyone moving in the same direction. At least for the moment.

Griff had asked Lex how his boss did that, and the best answer his partner had been able to give was “It’s just his superpower. Or he knows where all the bodies are buried. No one’s quite sure.”

The surviving guy was taken to the hospital, under guard, and Joshua had said the FBI would be there soon to take charge of him and the ones from the motel. Sheriff Dawes said he wanted to discuss things further with Bill in the morning and left, taking with him the rest of the deputies, who had given the five lookalikes lots of amazed looks.

Griff was just as glad to have them gone. He’d gotten used to being accepted and not looked at like a freak at the Agency, and he didn’t like experiencing it again.

As soon as they were gone, Lex came up and put an arm around him. Which considerably improved his mood.

Terri and Stiles had gone with the prisoners, leaving just the five of them plus Jimmy.

“Want to meet back at my place?” Bill asked. “I can order a bunch of pizzas and we can talk?”

All agreed that was an excellent idea.

***

Everyone drove to Bill’s house, and pizza was ordered. Bill was surprised at how comfortable he felt with everyone, but he supposed he shouldn’t have been. A battle tended to make brothers of men, and they had just been through a rough one. Bill knew how easily one or all of them could have died there.

He was amused at how Lex draped himself all over Griff, completely unselfconscious about it. He hoped he could find someone to love like that someday.

They all raised a glass to Pete and Robbie and had a moment of silence for their fallen twins.

He caught Sam giving him little glances when he thought no one was looking, and he decided it was time to finish the conversation which had been interrupted by the fighting.

Lex was telling some story about a decoy cow, which was interesting, but Bill thought he could skip it. He stood up and said he’d be back in a minute. Sam glanced up, and Bill gave him a small nod. He stood up and followed. Bill saw Griff giving them a questioning look, and he shook his head. He thought he was ready to handle this on his own now. Griff gave him a nod and an encouraging smile.

Bill led Sam to his second bedroom, the one he used as half office, half exercise room. He closed the door to block out the sounds from the living room.

“So, Sam,” he began. “I may have been a bit unfair to you.”

Sam shook his head. “No. It’s fine.”

Bill put up a hand. “No. It’s really not. Neither of us asked for this, but, well, we’re stuck with it. And I can’t ignore the fact that when I saw the grenade, my first instinct was to protect you. Not my partner.”

Sam’s mouth dropped open a little at that. “Bill, I never want to get between you and your partner.”

“I know that.” He sighed. “But it seems like I need you, and I’ve accepted that, at least to some degree.”

He sat down on his weight bench and motioned Sam to the desk chair. “I gave this a little thought on the way back here, and I wanted to propose something to you. I talked it over with Jimmy, and he thought it was a decent idea.”

Jimmy hadn’t _liked_ it any more than Bill had, but he’d seen the sense to it.

Sam sat. “Sure. What?”

“Well, I can’t patrol when I can’t get more than a few hundred feet from you. But Dean seemed to think that it wouldn’t take too long for that to change. He said since he got to me soon after I snapped, it won’t be like Griff and Lex where Griff is still so limited even after months. I know you probably want to be with your church, so maybe I come live with you for a while, until I’ve got my range, and then we see what happens next?” He desperately hoped that Sam would be willing to come live in Jericho, but he knew that was asking a lot. This way, they could put off the decision until they had a chance to get to know each other a little better.

Sam smiled at him. “I’ve been thinking too. I know how much Jericho means to you.” He shrugged. “I like Rocky Road, but I haven’t been there as long as you’ve lived here. So, why don’t we do what you suggest, and I’ll start making plans to leave and move here?”

Bill blinked. “You’d do that?”

Sam’s smile widened. “I would.”

His voice held a hint of a smirk, and Bill was suddenly suspicious. “What are you not telling me?”

“Well, we’re in agreement that we’re going to be friends, not romantic like Griff and Lex, right?”

“Right.” Bill made his voice firm, wanting to be clear on that.

“Well, in that case, I’m still on the open market.” He winked. “And let me just say the pickings are slim in Rocky Road.”

Bill laughed. “You mean you want to come to Jericho to find yourself a girlfriend?”

Sam shrugged. “Why not?”

Bill reached out a hand, and Sam took it. The circuit closed between them again, but this time Bill welcomed it. And sensed that Griff was right. There was more to Sam than he’d allowed himself to see in that initial impression.

Maybe they could make this thing work.

***

The flight back to D.C. was blissfully uneventful. Griff pushed Lex’s 3DS into his hand and told him, in a tone that mixed affection and command to “don’t stop playing that until we land.” Lex shivered a bit at the tone. Maybe he could ask Griff to use it in bed some time?

Griff and Dean worked more on Griff’s psychic abilities, and Lex listened with half an ear. He could maybe help Griff practice at home.

Joshua met them at the airport, which was nice, but by the time they landed, about all Lex wanted was to get his partner home and horizontal on a bed, with the bed being optional. Their boss took pity on them and just briefed them quickly that the joint operation was assembled, and they’d be taking down the Midwest cell in the next day or two. The guy who’d been shot through the knee was talking, and they were getting good intelligence from him.

Lex and Griff finally got home, and Griff took him apart slowly, both of them reveling in having made it home safely from another mission. Lex knew Griff had been badly shaken when the grenade had gone off in the barn, and he used every technique he could think of to make Griff forget it had ever happened.

They went back to work the next day to write up after action reports and all that. Oddly, over the next few days, Griff never mentioned the proposal. Lex tried to suppress his anxiety. Griff wanted him, he thought, but he knew his partner suffered from the same anxiety, only even more. Probably he was having doubts that Lex really _wanted_ to get married.

But he did, and he finally decided to take matters into his own hands. He did a bit of research online and ordered something, paying extra to have it delivered the next day.

While he usually liked the link with Griff, at times like this it was awkward. Lex would have rather shopped in person. However, while their range was now the length of Tysons Corner Mall, it was harder to keep a secret when they had to go to the mall together.

He suspected Joshua had guessed his plans, and he wondered how his boss knew. Sometimes Lex swore he was more psychic than Griff. But he still decided to implement his plan at work. Griff couldn’t talk himself into backing out in front of witnesses. Could he?

The tricky part was waiting for the right time. So of course, this was the day that Jackson needed both an urgent analysis from Griff and Joshua needed both a money trace and _three_ backstopped IDs. As the day wore on, Lex grew more anxious. Enough that Griff stopped by his desk at lunch and asked if he was all right.

“Sure. Just having a tough time with this money trace is all.”

He knew Griff didn’t believe it, but his partner knew when to let it go.

Finally, Lex finished all of his tasks and fumbled in his drawer.

And, of course, that’s when Jackson called down to ask Griff to come up to brief him on the analysis. But Lex knew he’d lose his nerve if he had to wait much longer.

“Hang on, Griff. Just a second.”

Griff stopped on his way out of the department. “What’s up?”

Lex knew he’d telegraphed _something_ with his voice because both Terri and Stiles glanced up from their desks. Joshua appeared in the door to his office and gave Lex a quick thumbs up.

He _did_ know! How?

Lex stood up, gripping the small box tightly. He walked over to Griff and handed it over.

Griff took it, stared at it for a moment and finally asked, “Lex?”

“Just open it, okay?”

Griff did and took out a ring. Lex had researched “gay engagement rings” online and had found something that he thought his partner would wear, a simple band studded with alternating sapphires and diamonds. He’d also found several designs for wedding rings and hoped they'd be able to look through them together.

“Lex?” Griff said as he held the ring in his hand.

“I think you’re supposed to put it on. I mean, assuming you still want to…”

He saw Joshua give him an encouraging smile and another thumbs up. Lex appreciated it because right then his stomach was doing somersaults, and he wasn’t sure he was going to make it through the next few minutes without throwing up.

Griff slid the ring on his finger. His hands shook just a little. Then he glanced over to Joshua, a question in his eyes.

Their boss waved a hand. “Go ahead. Lex can just wipe the video feed later. Or save it. His choice.” Joshua’s eyes were twinkling.

Griff grabbed Lex’s tie and pulled him in for an intense kiss. He kept it (mostly) safe for work, but it was close. Lex kissed him back, feeling relief wash through him. Griff _did_ want this.

Griff broke the kiss and held him a moment. “Of course, I wanted it,” he whispered. “But I still don’t believe that _you_ do.”

“Till death and all that,” Lex said, smiling and almost losing himself in Griff’s whiskey-gold eyes.

“Ahem,” Joshua said, breaking the moment. “While lovely and romantic, if you want Griff to still have a job here tomorrow morning, he might want to get moving to Jackson’s office.”

Griff gave a little start, leaned in for one more chaste kiss and turned to go.

Lex watched him go, tilting his head to get a good look at Griff’s ass, which always looked so good in dress slacks. And now it was official. That ass was his and his alone from now on.

He turned to go back to his desk. Terri gave him a warm smile. Stiles gave him a wink and a friendly leer. Joshua walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. “Unconventional but well done, son.”

Lex smiled.

“We’d better be invited to the wedding,” Stiles called out. “And don’t be stingy with the booze either.”

Lex grinned at him and had a sudden, happy thought.

He knew the _perfect_ pastor to perform the ceremony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who followed this story and seems to love this crazy Verse that was really never supposed to _be_ a Verse. For those who don't know, there are 5 more main stories planned, so if you like the boys, there's going to be a lot more of them. I'm sure I'll keep coming up with little side stories as well. I've got one of those planned already.
> 
> The next story is close to half done. So take a peek at the next "chapter" for two preview snippets of what's to come.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two snippets from the next story, "Echoes of You"

**Snippet 1**

“Will you stop fidgeting!” Terri exclaimed as she adjusted Lex’s tie _again._

He tried. Really, he did. But he was excited. It was his wedding day. He’d never really thought he’d ever get married, but he was. He’d also never really thought he’d be marrying a guy, but now that he had Griff, he couldn’t imagine having anyone else.

“There,” Terri said, giving his tie one last tug into place. She turned him to look at himself in the mirror.

On the mission where they had rescued Sam, Lex had jokingly asked Griff which one of them would wear white. Griff’s response had been hilarious and completely inappropriate for an Agency communications line, but once they had agreed on a date, his partner had, with many blushes and downward glances, asked if Lex would wear white at the wedding.

Since Lex could deny Griff nothing, here he was, on his wedding day, in a white tux. Griff had requested all white—no accent colors--, and Terri had helped Lex pick out a nice one. The material had a bit of a shimmer to it, and Lex turned slightly to admire the tail on the coat. Stiles had helped Griff pick out his, and Lex was eager to see it—both Terri and Stiles had gone traditional on them and hadn’t allowed either of them to see the other’s outfits.

Lex hoped Griff’s was long. He rather admired his future husband in long jackets and had made sure to buy him several. The shorter jackets Griff had bought right after they had moved in together mysteriously vanished one day. Lex had pleaded innocence but was pretty sure Griff hadn’t believed him.

“You look so handsome,” Terri said as she examined the final result. Lex thought she looked pretty in her royal blue dress. It wasn’t a fancy outfit, but it suited her, being cut tight through the waist and flowing out past her hips. He was pretty sure Stiles was a fan.

**Snippet 2**

Lex's phone beeped, signaling an incoming text. Glancing at it, he smiled. “Okay. Now there’s a lead.”

“What do you have?” Griff asked.

Bill and Sam had each sat down—on opposite sides of the room, Lex noticed—and they both sat up in their chairs at the question.

“It’s from Dean,” he said as he texted back. “Apparently, Roger is from Tupelo, Mississippi. And was…hunting demons?”

“Demons don’t exist,” Sam said. “Or is there something else you guys haven’t told me about?”

Griff chuckled. “As far as we know, just Nazis.”

Sam nodded. “Okay. Good stuff.”

“You’re the one who ‘saw God,’” Bill said, his tone grumpy.

“Hey!” Sam protested. “I’d just been electrocuted! Not my fault I had some freaky dream while I was passed out.”

“That’s not how you put it when you told it to Sarah last week,” Bill said.

Sam shrugged. “She’s religious. I thought it might impress her.”

 

 


End file.
